Public is not a safe place to smoke Public is not a safe place to smoke (December 26, 2003)

For smokers, the world keeps getting smaller and smaller. It began with the ban on lighting up in bars. Now, smokers are being told that a new state law will ban smoking within 20 feet of a public building starting Jan. 1. With the city council planning to consider even stricter laws on smoking in Mountain View in March, smokers could soon feel pushed out of the public domain entirely.

These laws aren't for naught -- secondhand smoke kills and, even in small doses, can be considered an issue of public health.

So are smokers being unfairly punished or is the public at great risk from the danger of the toxins they put in the air?

The answer is mixed, but the health issue must take precedence -- the non-smoking public needs protection from second-hand smoke but smokers also need a place to practice their legal, but dangerous, habit.

The city council is right to give special consideration to banning smoking in well-traveled public areas, such as downtown Mountain View. People who are particularly allergic to cigarette smoke or don't like being around smokers know not to hang out in doorways of bars, but they cannot be asked to avoid city streets where people smoke.

Smokers, who indulge in a practice that is permissible by law but is harmful to neighbors, can and should be asked to respect others by finding a private place to smoke.

It's actually a shame that smokers can not be accommodated in bars, which strike us as appropriate places for smoking. But while visiting a bar is clearly a choice, working behind the bar may not be, a good reason to extend the smoking ban to this venue.

One way out of the predicament is an outside smoking area. The downtown bar Molly Magee's has an outdoor patio where people can drink and smoke. Patrons who smoke can enjoy their cigarettes outside, and those who don't and don't want to be around smokers, can drink their Irish ales inside where it's smoke-free.

By excluding smoking from Castro Street, for example, there may be several benefits. Nonsmokers breathe fresh air, and restaurants may realize that smokers need a place to go and provide outdoor patios for them.

Smokers may consider this solution unfair, but subjecting unwilling strangers to harmful toxins that can cause serious diseases is simply not acceptable.

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