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Banning Smoking Could Boost Business For Restaurants And Bars
NEW YORK, NY -- December 2, 1997 -- A new survey shows bars and restaurants that snuff out smoking could find more patrons beating a path to their doors.
Lois Biener, Ph.D., of the University of Massachusetts Center for Survey Research in Boston, and Michael Siegel, M.D., M.P.H., of the Boston University School of Public Health, interviewed 2,356 Massachusetts adults over a 10-month period in 1995. They wanted to find out whether people would change their dining habits if restaurants and bars became smoke-free.
Biener presented the survey results at an American Medical Association/American Public Health Association media briefing here today.
About two-thirds of the people surveyed said ending smoking in restaurants and bars would have no impact on how frequently they patronize those establishments. But about three in 10 people would opt to dine out more often at smoke-free restaurants. One in five people would patronize bars more often if they became smoke-free.
The survey has uncovered a potential new market for bars among non-smokers. Thirty-two percent of the population said they never go to bars, lounges or places where alcohol is served. Ten percent of that group said they would start going if smoking were eliminated. In Massachusetts this amounts to approximately 120,000 new customers for smoke-free bars and clubs.
"Of those predicting a change in their restaurant patronage, the proportion predicting increased use was almost four times greater than the proportion predicting decreased use (31 percent versus 7.9 percent)," the researchers said. "For bar patronage, the proportion predicting increased use was almost twice as large as the proportion predicting decreased use (20 percent versus 10.8 percent)."
The survey results contradict the argument that restaurants and bars would lose business if communities enact ordinances requiring establishments to be smoke-free. The results support findings of a recent study by Stanton Glantz, Ph.D., and Lisa Smith in the October issue of the American Journal of Public Health that shows no adverse economic impact of smoking bans in bars in California and restaurants in Colorado and California. That argument assumes that if smoking is eliminated at bars and restaurants in one community, patrons would go to a neighboring community, or dine out less often.
"Our analysis of a representative sample of Massachusetts adults suggests that smoke-free policies are likely to increase overall patronage of restaurants and bars," Drs. Biener and Siegel write. "It also indicates that contrary to tobacco industry assertions, smokers are no more likely than non-smokers to
be frequent restaurant or bar users."
Among other findings of the survey:
-- The vast majority of both smokers and non-smokers believe environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) could cause cancer in non-smokers and is harmful to children's health.
-- Sixty-four percent reported being bothered "a great deal" or "some" by ETS.
-- Nearly 40 percent reported avoiding a place in the past because of tobacco smoke.
Bars and restaurants have been shown to have high levels of employee exposure to ETS. This exposure has been linked to an increased risk of lung cancer among food service workers.
As of August 1996, 191 cities, towns and counties in the U.S. had enacted ordinances banning smoking in restaurants. Thirty of these ordinances also require bars to be smoke-free.
"This study provides further evidence that workers can be protected from the hazards of ETS exposure without adverse consequences for bar and restaurant business," the researchers write.
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