Ocean City to Ban Beach Smoking, Like 100+ Other Jurisdictions

July 9, 2012 - PRLog -- If so, Ocean City will join more than 100 jurisdictions which have already banned all smoking on their beaches, and the much larger number which have restricted it to certain areas, notes public interest law professor John Banzhaf, who founded the modern nonsmokers' rights movement by getting smoking restricted and then banned on airplanes and in many public places, and helped extend the movement to beaches.

Although Ocean City will try over this summer to simply discourage smokers from continuing to use its beaches as a giant ashtray - despite "minimal" success so far, according to the mayor - Mayor Rick Meehan says that “making our beach a smoke-free beach at some point in time is going to become a reality and I just think that’s the way our country is going and that is probably a good thing.” http://www.mdcoastdispatch.com/articles/2012/07/06/Top-Stories/Smoke-Free-Beach-Streets-Pitched-For-Ocean-City

Banzhaf, who engaged in a spirited debate about this topic on FOX NEWS Sunday, says there are many reasons why more than 1000 jurisdictions have already banned smoking in various outdoor areas, including not only beaches, but also playgrounds and parks, around building entrances, and even on sidewalks and in mall parking lots. Indeed, similar beach smoking ban have just been instituted, or are about to be instituted, at more than a dozen additional beaches, for these same reasons.

FIRST, secondhand tobacco smoke is a highly toxic substance which, like asbestos and benzene, has been found - even in minute amounts - to cause lung cancer in nonsmokers, with the U.S. Surgeon General and many governmental organizations warning that there is no safe lower level below which the risk of cancer disappears. That's why, for example, buildings undergoing asbestos removal must be fully shrouded to prevent people passing by on the sidewalk from inhaling even minute amounts for the few brief seconds they are exposed.

SECOND, even outdoors, secondhand smoke can and does trigger asthmatic attacks, coughing, headaches, and other health problems in those exposed to it, especially for the tens of millions of Americans who are especially sensitive because of asthma, sinusitis, allergies, and other health problems, as well as for young children and the elderly.

THIRD, even if it caused no health problems, tobacco smoke drifting outdoors is still physically irritating and very annoying to many people. "No one wants to stake out a great place on the beach only to find, once it's too late to move, that they are stuck downwind from a blanket full of smokers," argues Banzhaf.

FOURTH, cigarette butts are far and away the most prevalent form of litter on the beach, and the most difficult and expensive to remove because of their small size. "Smokers who use public beaches as their own giant ashtray waste billions of taxpayer dollars every year to clean up after their thoughtlessness," argues Banzhaf. He notes that, although Ocean City has tried to cajole smokers into restricting their smoking to certain areas by placing cigarette butt cans along the resort’s beach and boardwalk, even the mayor concludes that it's only "resulting in minimal success" - with more than 30% of the butt cans already lost or stolen.

FIFTH, cigarette butts, with the highly-concentrated carcinogenic tars and nicotine from the smoke now trapped in the filters, also present a very serious health hazard to toddlers playing in the sand who not only handle them, but also all too often put the filters or their hands into their mouths.

SIXTH, chewing and spitting tobacco, drinking alcoholic beverages, skinny dipping, playing loud music, and making fires - all perfectly legal activities which create no health hazards for bystanders - are banned on most beaches because they are deemed inappropriate conduct, especially around children, so there's no reason not to likewise ban the smoking of tobacco. As Ocean City Council President Jim Hall suggested, smoking on the beach has become a bad example for children, as well as being offensive to other nonsmokers.

Some argue that there is a right to smoke tobacco, and that it shouldn't be restricted, or at least not totally banned - often adding that cigarettes are a legal product. But those who derive the same pleasure or relief from nicotine in chewing-and-spitting tobacco, rather than from cigarettes, obviously have no right to a special section of beach set aside for chewing and spitting, any more than those who want to drink alcoholic beverages, blast loud music from boom boxes, make fires, or even skinny dip have a right to do so in crowded public places.

Indeed, every court which has ever addressed the issue, including several cases in which law professor Banzhaf has participated, has held unequivocally that there is no right to smoke - not even within private homes or apartments, much less in crowded public places like beaches.

As to arguments that a beach smoking ban would keep smokers away and hurt the tourist trade, Banzhaf notes that the same arguments were made when jurisdictions first banned smoking in restaurants, and then in bars, although subsequent events proved all such predictions to be wrong.  "Smokers are adjusting to the new reality that, while they are still welcome on airplanes, in restaurants and bars, and in more than a thousand outdoor areas, they may have to refrain from smoking for a brief period of time, especially when they are around others," suggests Banzhaf.

Asked then where smokers are expected to smoke tobacco, Banzhaf suggests the same place people have to go to chew and spit tobacco, or even to answer the call of nature. Like millions of other beach goers who step off the beach for a few minutes to use the restrooms, or in many cases to get something to eat or drink, smokers can simply walk off the beach every few hours to light up - as many of them already have to do on their jobs, when they fly, visit museums or government buildings, etc.

"Rather than continue for another year trying to persuade smokers not to litter its beaches and boardwalk with their toxic butts, Ocean City should join more than 100 other jurisdictions and simply ban smoking on its beaches - a simple remedy that also protects the health of the great majority of beach goers who are nonsmokers, including children, the elderly, and those with a wide variety of medical problems," argues Banzhaf.

JOHN F. BANZHAF III, B.S.E.E., J.D., Sc.D.
Professor of Public Interest Law
George Washington University Law School,
FAMRI Dr. William Cahan Distinguished Professor,
Fellow, World Technology Network,
Founder, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)
2000 H Street, NW, Suite S402
Washington, DC 20052, USA
(202) 994-7229 // (703) 527-8418
http://banzhaf.net/ https://twitter.com/#!/profbanzhaf