Ireland Has More To Celebrate Than St. Patrick’s Day

Contact:
Jason Melancon
Tobacco Free Living
504.301.9841

Amy Ferguson
Keating Magee
504.299.7175

NEW ORLEANS, LA As Louisiana residents prepare to celebrate St. Patricks Day, the citizens of Ireland are preparing to celebrate something different. March 29, 2005, marks the one-year anniversary of a ban on smoking in bars and pubs throughout the Republic of Ireland.

The ban, instituted on March 29, 2004, was at the forefront of the recent trend to pass nonsmoking legislation around the world. Since Irelands decision to go smoke-free, other countries and several American states have instituted similar bans on smoking indoors. The list includes Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, California, New York and Florida.

Though Irelands ban was especially controversial due the countrys well-established pub culture, the new legislation was hailed an immediate success; a month after it was passed, nearly 96% of pubs and restaurants complied with the new law.

On this side of the Atlantic, studies in New York, California and Florida have shown that since the statewide smoking ban, bar and restaurant profits have typically increased or at least remained the same.

Most Americans are still extremely vulnerable to second-hand smoke. One third of Louisiana workers are not protected by smoke-free policies, and the state pays $1.15 billion a year in health care costs related to smoking.

Dr. Tom Houston, Director of the Louisiana Campaign for Tobacco Free Living, commenting on the similarities between the pub cultures of Louisiana and Ireland, says If they can do it so can we.

He continues, Here are two cultures with a zest for living life to the fullest, but now one culture has realized that a full life is one without the hazards of cigarette smoke.

The Louisiana Campaign for Tobacco-Free Living provides statewide coordination of existing tobacco control initiatives, funds innovative community programming for tobacco control, and develops statewide media campaigns to help reduce the excessive burden of tobacco use on the states resources and improve Louisianas overall health and quality of life.

Tobacco Fact: There is no safe level of secondhand smoke. Restaurant, bar, and casino workers involuntarily inhale enough secondhand smoke every day to suffer some of the identical health effects observed in pack-a-day smokers.

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