Quote:
Aaaah, so I should enjoy while I can! I am temporarily in France where there are often not even non-smoking sections of bars, even restaurants.

I *really* like to travel there (oh, for the food and other things) but this is why it has to be in fairly warm weather -- when the patio is set up or the windows are open. I suspect France may be the one of the last tobacco havens in Europe to crumble. A certain obstinacy?

Quote:
A coffee is not coffee without a small cigar.

Oh, yes it is! I only wish I didn't kill half my taste buds in the 14 years I smoked!

Quote:
As somebody said here, evidence of dangers of second-hand smoking is not that firm, but it still makes sense to err on the side of caution.

Allow me to link this NIH page before the Bush administration has it taken down in the interests of national security. I don't think it is that the evidence is weak so much as the strenth of associations and the degree of risk is sometimes not compelling to everybody. As a restaurant patron, my concerns are less, but as a restaurant employee, my concern would be (or should be!) much higher.

Quote:
However, as Michael said, why not regulate minimal air quality? Smoking ban is the cheapest way to achieve this, good ventilation the most expensive - competition would create choice.

I am not certain, but I think that there have been some studies saying that this is not terribly effective (unless you want your resturant to sound like a machine room!).

Quote:
Yes, but how much do they save on pensions?

I think this has been studied also. Yes, more YPLL (years of preventable life lost) means less pension funding needed. Problem with tobacco is that people with COPD and other tobacco-related illness can take a *bitchin'* long time to die and they are very expensive to care for, so your retirement funds are lost and then some. We had a guy in Boston in the mid 80s who have over 350 hospital admissions in something like a 5-6-year period. Anybody want to add up what the ambulance bill was?
_________________________
Jim


'Tis the exceptional fellow who lies awake at night thinking of his successes.