2009.09.27
The smokiest places in Virginia
Come Dec. 1, Virginia will join a growing number of states banning smoking in restaurants (except for private clubs, outdoor seating, and designated smoking areas in a separate room from the main dining area, in Virginia’s case).
My colleague, Jenny Kincaid Boone, has a story on what the change means in the Sunday, Sept. 27, Roanoke Times.
As part of that, we decided to look at which places had the farthest to go to become smoke-free. I obtained from the Virginia Department of Health, the agency that inspects restaurants, data including the smoking status of more than 16,000 full-service and fast-service restaurants in Virginia.
And it turns out that statewide, some 70 percent of those restaurants are already non-smoking. And the Roanoke and New River Valleys are just about there, too, with about 68 percent of restaurants smoke-free.
(One caveat about the data: the smoking status is based on what was recorded during a health department inspection, and some of the dates on these status are months old, and might have changed.)
We took the data and stuck it on a map to see just where the stragglers are. Now, 16,000 restaurants is a lot of points to map, so we rolled the data up into percentages for each city and county, and that’s what you’ll find on the map. It’s a cool interactive, and you can make all sorts of changes to it, including changing which data is shown on the map. There are instructions at the bottom of the page.
It struck me that, really, there aren’t any dramatic and obvious patterns to where non-smoking restaurants are. I thought maybe rural areas would have fewer non-smoking places. But look at Craig County. It has five restaurants, and all are smoke-free. Look at the Shenendoah Valley. The whole spine of it has a high percentage of non-smoking restaurants. My best guess on that is that it’s influenced by Interstate 81, and the number of fast-food restaurants near interchanges. Fast food restaurants are routinely smoke-free these days.
Switch the map over to the percentage of restaurants which allow smoking in all areas. No great pattern there, either. I thought that the high percentages might correspond with heavy tobacco producing communities, but except for Pittsylvania County, that theory isn’t really born out.
But maybe you’ll see things that we missed. As always, let us know.
SECOND HAND SMOKE IS A JOKE….98% WATER…………..If your afraid of water then you should be afraid of second hand smoke…….
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
British Medical Journal & WHO conclude secondhand smoke “health hazard” claims are greatly exaggerated
The BMJ published report can be found here:
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/326/7398/1057
And concludes:
The results do not support a causal relation between environmental tobacco smoke and tobacco related mortality. The association between exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and coronary heart disease and lung cancer may be considerably weaker than generally believed.
What makes this study more significant than any other is that it took place over a 39 year period, and studied the results of non-smokers who lived with smokers….. meaning these non-smokers were exposed to secondhand smoke up to 24 hours per day; 365 days per year for 39 years. And there was still no relation between environmental tobacco smoke and tobacco related mortality.
This report was of course silenced in the media; however in light of the damage to business, jobs, and the economy from smoking bans the BMJ report should be revisited by lawmakers as a reference tool and justification to repeal the now unnecessary and very damaging smoking ban laws.
Also significant is the World Health Organization (WHO) study which concluded “..secondhand smoking doesn’t cause cancer…” found online here.
Excerpt:
Passive smoking doesn’t cause cancer-official
By Victoria Macdonald, Health Correspondent
The results are consistent with their being no additional risk for a person living or working with a smoker and could be consistent with passive smoke having a protective effect against lung cancer. The summary, seen by The Telegraph, also states: “There was no association between lung cancer risk and ETS exposure during childhood.”
And if lawmakers need additional real world data to further highlight the need to eliminate these onerous and arbitrary laws, air quality testing by Johns Hopkins University, the American Cancer Society, a Minnesota Environmental Health Department, and various researchers whose testing and report was also peer reviewed and published in the esteemed British Medical Journal……prove that secondhand smoke is 2.6 – 25,000 times SAFER than occupational (OSHA) workplace regulations.
As for secondhand smoke in the air, OSHA has stated outright that:
“Field studies of environmental tobacco smoke indicate that under normal conditions, the components in tobacco smoke are diluted below existing Permissible Exposure Levels (PELS.) as referenced in the Air Contaminant Standard (29 CFR 1910.1000)…It would be very rare to find a workplace with so much smoking that any individual PEL would be exceeded.”
-Letter From Greg Watchman, Acting Sec’y, OSHA, To Leroy J Pletten, PHD, July 8, 1997
Comment by harleyrider1978 — September 27, 2009 @ 11:08 am
[...] You can find the results here. [...]
Pingback by What are the smokiest places in the New River Valley? | New River Notebook: News from the New River Valley - Roanoke.com — September 28, 2009 @ 11:07 am
People think that smelling a cigarette will kill them. It’s just silly.
Comment by Henry — September 28, 2009 @ 11:31 am
It might not kill me but it sure is annoying when you are trying to enjoy a meal.
Comment by ADP — October 1, 2009 @ 1:10 pm
Smelling secondhand smoke may not be harmful, but it stinks and for people with allergies, it’s nauseating.
Comment by Debbie — October 5, 2009 @ 12:19 pm
No one’s “smelling” secondhand smoke. They’re breathing it. We don’t care what dirty, smelly, unhealthy habits others engage in while in the privacy of their own homes. We’d just like to be enjoy the meal we pay good money for while in restaurants with those people.
Change “smoking in restaurants” to “playing rap music loudly in restaurants”. Then try to defend it. Doesn’t work, and if it weren’t for the tobacco “The proof tying smoking to cancer is inconclusive” lobby, no one would be trying.
Comment by Kristen — October 7, 2009 @ 9:08 am
Keep the smoke outside…..It is annoying to non smokers and offensive to sensitive noses…..and to people with allergies….and expensive to get the smell out of fabrics…drapes, carpet etc……
Roanoke, VA
Comment by Padgett — October 12, 2009 @ 6:04 am
I’m just amazed that Craig County only has 5 restaurants.
Comment by Katie — December 1, 2009 @ 9:13 am
could you also keep the perfume home, and shouldnt cigar lounges and bars be able to light up, if you dont like cigarette smoke, go to a diffrent bar. hey I dont like drunks,but I do like to dance and have a drink, can we make it illegal to get drunk in a bar? lol
Comment by Vicky — February 19, 2010 @ 5:00 pm
I’d like to see how the map looks with current data. Yes, there will still be a few places that haven’t had an inspection, so lets come back again in another 6 months.
Comment by James Collie — February 22, 2010 @ 8:56 am
I am checking in with many restaurants across the state. This map is really out of date. However, after a major dip in smoking restaurants on dec. 1 the numbers are on the rise again. It is taking some time for some of them to catch up to state regs. for smoking. I have an ongoing list that serves as a resource for smokers. you may use it to find smoking restaurants in your area. smokefreelyva.com Please report smoking restaurants to me as you find them. Thanks, Moe iii
Comment by Moe iii — March 17, 2010 @ 11:48 pm
Thanks for the comment, Moe. The map is indeed out of date. That’s because it pre-dates the change in law that took effect Dec. 1 that made many more restaurants smoke free. The map has a date stamp, and I prefer this site to be an archive along with everything else it is, so I won’t be taking it down. When VDH has had a chance to inspect restaurants again and update smoking status, I’ll get the fresh data and make a new map to see how people have responded.
Comment by Matt Chittum — March 18, 2010 @ 9:43 am