Tobacco.org

• Only a few are fuming as strict smoking ban looms in Puerto Rico 

Touted as the Caribbean's toughest smoking ban, Puerto Rico's "clean air act" not only prohibits smoking in enclosed public areas, but also in private cars carrying children under 13 and in open-air terraces or outdoor bars with one or more employees.

Puerto Rico's governor signed the law this year over the objections of some in the $3 billion tourist industry, who feared it might turn away tourists. In 2005, Floridians made up 17 percent of Puerto Rico's 1.3 million U.S. tourists who stay in hotels, the only group officials track by residence. An additional 2.3 million visitors arrived on cruise ships or stayed with relatives last year.

Studies suggest tourism officials may not have much to fear from the smoking ban. The University of Florida's Bureau of Economic and Business Research found that sales at Florida restaurants increased by 7 percent after the state's smoking ban went into effect in 2003. A July 2006 report examined sales tax receipts in New York City and New York State between 1999 and 2004 and found that city and statewide smoking bans had no financial impact on bars and restaurants.

In San Juan, even smokers were not fuming over the ban. . . .

The legislation was not prompted by high smoking rates on the island. Only 13 percent of adults smoke in Puerto Rico, making it the third-lowest rate in the United States. Only Utah, with 11 percent, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, with 9 percent, have lower rates. In Florida, 22 percent of adults smoke.

Still, smoking-related illnesses cost Puerto Rico $1.1 billion in lost productivity and health-care expenses, said Antonio Cases, director of the Tobacco Control and Prevention Division of Puerto Rico's Health Department.

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