We’ve asked a number of folks with strong opinions to weigh in on the City of St joseph’s proposed, draft Clean Air Ordinance.

The proposal came about largely because of efforts of a group called Clean Air St  Joseph.  Coordinator Sara Summers offered this Op-Ed.

 

 

“Smoking bans save more than half a million lives each year in the U.S. alone. The savings, as measured in human lives, is undeniable.”

With these words, the Institute of Medicine, released a report in 2009 that found communities adopting ordinances for smokefree workplaces and public places experienced significant declines in hospitalizations for heart attacks.

A growing body of studies has found an average 17 percent reduction in hospital admissions for heart attacks in the first year where community smokefree ordinances were in effect.

What could this mean for St. Joseph?

St. Joseph sees an average of 214 hospitalizations for heart attacks each year. With an ordinance for smokefree public places and workplaces, we could conservatively see 36 fewer heart attack hospitalizations. This would also save the community more than $1.6 million in preventable health care costs, of which more than $1.1 million, nearly 70 percent, is borne by taxpayers through Medicare and other government programs.

And this is just in the first year. The research indicates the benefits of declining rates of heart attack hospitalizations increases over time with an average 36 percent reduction after three years a smokefree ordinance has been in effect.

Many people with heart disease don’t know they have it until they experience the most common first symptom, a heart attack. About half of first-time heart attacks are fatal.

A dollar amount on the value of a life should not be considered as a negotiable factor to be outweighed by a perceived (and unsubstantiated) potential loss of profit to a business owner.

A smokefree ordinance isn’t about indulging delicate types who want everything their way. It is about the fact that when someone lights up in a public place, everyone’s health is compromised.

This isn’t about business rights. This isn’t about smokers’ rights (as if non-smokers should forfeit their basic right to breathe clean air). This is about saving lives. To disregard the science and simply say this is about business rights or smokers rights is dishonest.

With a majority of the country’s population already living in areas with laws for smokefree public places, including our neighboring states of Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska, isn’t it time for St. Joseph to join the trend for a healthier community? Let’s do it just for the health of it!

You can learn more about CASJ at www.cleanairstjoe.com and also by liking our page on Facebook. 

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