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Did you know, that smoking isn't good for your computer, either? It's true, at least according to Apple. Two readers in different parts of the country claim that their Applecare warranties were voided due to secondhand smoke. Both readers appealed their cases up to the office of God Steve Jobs himself. Both lost. . . .
Dena [from Jobs' office] did advise me that nicotine is on OSHA's list of hazardous substances and Apple would not require an employee to repair anything deemed hazardous to their health. However, OSHA also lists calcium carbonate (found in calcium tablets), isopropyl alcohol (used to clean wounds), chlorine (used in swimming pools), hydrogen peroxide (also used to clean wounds), sucrose (a sugar), talc (as in powder), etc... as hazardous substances.
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Dena set up an appointment at the same Apple store. They told me that they would take pictures of the computer - both inside and out before determining whether to proceed and that if the only problem was the optical drive, they'd probably just replace it. Dena called me earlier this week to deliver the "bad news." She said that the computer is beyond economical repair due to tar from cigarette smoke! She said the hard drive is about to fail, the optical drive has failed and it isn't feasible to repair the computer under the warranty. This computer is less than 2 years old! Only one person in my household smokes - one 21 year old college student. She said that I can get it repaired elsewhere at my expense. I asked why my warranty didn't cover the repair and was told it's an OSHA violation.
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A countywide smoking ban may be on the November ballot if some St. Louis County council members have their way, over the objections of premium cigar store owners, members of the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association.
"We want to go on record as being against this proposed ban and any legislated smoking ban, for that matter. Government should stay out of private business decisions like this. If a business owner decides to prevent smoking on the premises, that's fine. It's his individual right to do so. If government gets involved, pretty soon you'll have bureaucrats running whole industries like banking and finance, automobile, energy and healthcare," said Chris McCalla, legislative director of the IPCPR.
St. Louis County council members are expected to continue discussing the issue at their meeting on Tuesday, July 28. Council member Barbara Fraser has proposed putting the issue to a referendum. McCalla makes the point that minorities have rights and smokers are a minority.
"The only thing a smoking ban would do is lead the way in increased unemployment, failed businesses and deprivation of individual rights," said McCalla.
McCalla says anti-smoking forces often use misinformation and biased research based on junk science provided by organizations that are rarely challenged regarding the source, quality and truth of that research.
"For example, they say there are no safe levels for secondhand smoke. Not true. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is the federal agency charged with maintaining a healthy and safe work environment. OSHA has set safe levels for secondhand smoke that are exponentially higher than the air quality found in average restaurants and bars," he said.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (OSH), an arm of the Centers for Disease Control, has asked casinos to ban smoking to protect their workers.
The action was prompted by a new study showing significant levels of a tobacco-specific carcinogenic toxin in the urine of workers in three Nevada casinos, a study prompted by the request of Nevada casino workers for health evaluations of their workplaces.
At least one of those employees lost her job after making her request.
The study, known in bureaucratic parlance as a health hazard evaluation (HHE), was conducted among 124 workers in the Bally's, Paris and Caesars Palace casinos in Las Vegas. (The three casinos are all Harrah's properties.) . . .
Among findings:
"We found ETS components in the air. These components include nicotine, 4-vinyl pyridine, respirable dust, solanesol, benzene, toluene, p-dichloromethane, naphthalene, formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde."
"We found increased urinary levels of one ETS component during the work shift. This finding shows that these components were absorbed in [non-poker] casino dealers' bodies."
There were also findings favorable to the casinos' stance of supporting smoking over worker safety, but the presence of the toxins led to OSH asking the casinos to end smoking.
Terrie Price, a dealer at Caesars Palace for 25 years, was fired in 2005. She has filed a lawsuit against the company.
During the 25 years she worked as a Caesars Palace dealer, Terrie Price was one of a few vocal anti-smoking dissenters among thousands of largely silent casino workers. Price believes her efforts to force her employer to address secondhand smoke, even as a growing body of scientific research chronicled its dangers, cost her that job.
The release last week of the first federal study detailing the effects of secondhand smoke on Las Vegas casino employees — a study Price requested — vindicated those efforts, Price said.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health tracked more than 100 dealers at Bally’s, Paris Las Vegas and Caesars Palace during on-site visits in 2005 and 2006. Researchers found the dealers were exposed to airborne chemicals associated with secondhand smoke during their shifts, had increased levels of tobacco-specific carcinogens in their urine after their shifts, and reported a host of respiratory problems potentially triggered by workplace smoke.
“We’ve been waiting a long time for this,” said Price, 53.
Recent updates to public information in Colorado Department of Revenue public reports reveal the trend for diminishing rates of increase in bar trade revenues continues, while increases in restaurant sector sales accelerate. "The most recent comparative sales data for the first quarter of 2007 confirms a trend that we first identified early this summer," said Allen Campbell, Senior Vice President of the Coalition for Equal Rights, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) bar and tavern trade group headquartered in Colorado Springs.
Campbell said the well-established changes in competitive hospitality trade sector revenues are important in light of OSHA criteria for regulatory economic impact. OSHA generally considers a regulatory action to be not economically feasible if it would cause a decrease in related industry or sector revenue of one percent or cause a decline in profits in excess of ten percent. OSHA also usually considers a regulatory action not economically feasible if the action would cause a change in the competitive structure of an industry.
"The Colorado smoking ban violates all three OSHA economic feasibility criteria," Campbell said.
Chuck Magerl thinks supporters of Lawrence's smoking ban are going overboard in their effort to protect bar and restaurant workers from the health risks posed by secondhand cigarette smoke.
Magerl, owner of downtown Lawrence's Free State Brewing Co., 636 Mass., said an important fact had been lost in the controversy surrounding the Lawrence City Commission's decision to ban smoking in virtually all indoor public places. An oft-cited reason for the ban is to protect the health of workers.
But the federal agency that oversees workplace safety issues, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, has no regulations that say workers shouldn't be exposed to secondhand smoke.
"What people are really saying in this debate is that we don't want to live by OSHA's rules," Magerl said. "It seems like their battle should be with OSHA, not with the Red Lyon or some other bar in town." . . .
Dr. Steven Bruner, a Lawrence physician and supporter of the ban, said OSHA was controlled by Washington politicians, many of whom receive big campaign contributions from large tobacco companies. Bruner said it was clear OSHA understood the health dangers of secondhand smoke because it proposed tough regulations in 1994.
"They just got beaten down politically," Bruner said. "OSHA did its job. The politicians just didn't back them up." . . .
An OSHA spokesman, who refused to give his name for publication, referred all questions to a 2001 OSHA news release on the subject and a two-page written handout the agency has produced on the issue.
The documents state that OSHA stopped working on regulations after it became clear that local and state efforts were becoming effective in reducing exposure to secondhand smoke, and that the agency's resources "are best directed at other issues."