Posted on 09/18/2003 12:45:25 PM PDT by hoosierskypilot
BASKING RIDGE, N.J. - From New York to California, small and mid-size hotels have gone smoke-free, cleaning, deodorizing and redecorating rooms once reserved for smokers and designating them nonsmoking.
One major reason is that fewer guests are requesting smoking rooms. But hotel managers point to other benefits: lower room maintenance costs and a marketing tool at a time when the business has been hurt by a sluggish economy.
"In all of our publications, we promote a smoke-free environment, and we've gotten calls because of it. Families with kids, it's attractive to them. It reinforces cleanliness and safety," said Chris Canavos, manager of the 98-room Howard Johnson's in Williamsburg, Va., which went smoke-free during a renovation three years ago.
In New York City, which banned smoking in restaurants and bars over the summer, the 79-room Comfort Inn Midtown in the theater district just marked its second smoke-free year. For the first seven months of this year, the Comfort Inn's occupancy rate has been a strong 96 percent.
Nonsmoker Leon Der Bogosian, a jewelry wholesaler from Los Angeles who frequently travels on business, stays at the Comfort Inn Midtown an average of eight times a year. Of the smoke-free policy, he said: "I'm bound to them because of that."
"Clean air, that's the main thing for me," he said. When he recently stayed in Detroit, his nonsmoking room was on a floor with smoking rooms, and "from the elevator to the room, you could smell cigarettes."
Vijay Dandapani, chief operating officer of Apple Core Hotels, which runs the Comfort Inn Midtown, said that on average, maids have to spend an extra five minutes cleaning a smoking room, including emptying the ashtrays and scrubbing the smoke residue that settles on everything.
Moreover, hotel managers point out, the drapes, the carpets, the bedding and other furnishings need to be replaced more frequently in smoking rooms, because smokers burn holes in the furniture and cause other damage.
The switchover to no smoking also gives hotels more flexibility: Normally, when hotels are close to full, nonsmoking guests are offered smoking rooms. To many nonsmokers, that stinks. They are repelled by the hard-to-remove cigarette smell.
Many bars, restaurants and workplaces across the country have gone smoke-free over the past several years. John Banzhaf, an anti-smoking activist and professor of public interest law at George Washington University, calls hotels one of the last holdouts.
"I definitely think it will be a continuing and accelerating trend," he said. "I think hotels will try to distinguish themselves and try to provide some added value for their guests, and they'll be successful at it."
According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers study of major U.S. urban markets, rooms for smokers account for 16 percent of all hotel rooms, a drop of 4 percentage points over the past five years.
In addition to New Jersey, New York and Virginia, smoke-free hotels can also be found in Delaware, California and Oklahoma, said Jeff Higley, editor in chief of the industry journal Hotel & Motel Management. There are an estimated 4.4 million hotel rooms in the United States.
Just over a month ago in Basking Ridge, about a half-hour drive west of New York City, the 171-room North Maple Inn dropped the last of its rooms for smokers. The North Maple, which caters to Fortune 500 travelers and wedding parties, now charges a $250 cleaning fee to guests who light up in their rooms - the amount the hotel says it costs to get rid of the smell.
Smokers at the North Maple are free to use five outdoor areas, including a courtyard where they can order drinks.
Some North Maple guests attending a recent corporate conference huddled outside a side entrance, chatting over a morning cigarette.
New Yorker Jonathan Smith said the policy was most bothersome just before bedtime and first thing in the morning. After putting up with the policy for three days, the 27-year smoker said: "I feel like I've been here my whole life."
Audrey Silk of the New York group Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment does not welcome the trend either: "A hotel is where you go to relax. If they're telling me I can't smoke in my room, that's not a vacation."
Smokers pay enough taxes to pay for their own health care, and then some.
I'm not. I've never smoked, and the only time I have any desire to is when I see one of those sanctimonious anti-smoking PSAs. Given that teenagers are naturally rebellious, the demonization of smokers by government and media may very well make smoking more attractive to them.
Face it, your days are numbered.
Fine. And just to make sure; we'll be installing audio/video survellence camera's in every home (INCLUDING YOURS!) - everywhere - just to make sure no one is smoking. And we won't stop at just smoking violations, we'll go after those who eat red meat, drink alcohol, drive 0.01 MPH over the speed limit, don't wear seatbelts, don't wrap their children in head to toe body armour, padding & helmet from the moment they get up in the morning until they go to bed at night.
And that's just for starters.
Yes, the fascist/Orwellian state you envision will becoming to a neighborhood near you (oops.. yours too) because of people like you.
And when the revolution comes; to be waged by those of us you despise; those of us whom you targeted with your tactics and nanny state laws; won't lift a finger to save you from yourselves.
Be careful what you wish for....
Well don't tell me smoking can't be beneficial. Remember Air Florida Flight 90 in 1982 I believe, That was the one which crashed into the icy Potamac in Washington D.C. and there was 4 surviviors that were rescued from the river live on T.V.
Well the only people who survived the crash were smokers sitting in the smoking section while everyone else sitting in the healthly nonsmoker section was killed. So smoking saved their lives.
Correction....... some smokers die from lung cancer, as do some non-smokers.
So, how many did they say?
I remember that. We'd run behind the school and light up a Winston. Then you take four or five really deep drags and get dizzy. We'd have to run back before class started, feeling like we were going to puke.
Yes. I remember how the cigarette would be passed around and get really 'steamed'...meaning the ash was like 2 inches long and it would start tasting like crap if you were at the end of the line. LOL
Acetone, Acrolein, Ammonia, Arsenic, Benzene, Benzopyrene, Butane, Cadmium, Carbon Monoxide, Cyanide, Dioxin, Formaldehyde, Indole, Lead, Nicotine, Polonium-210, Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, Propylene Glycol, Turpentine
This list is a complete joke and any doubts about SHS being harmful should be put to rest, It may look bad but there is nothing in there that you aren't exposed to in greater quantities just going about your business in your everyday life
Acetone
Stinky but not toxic. It is the active ingredients in nail polish remover. If it's so toxic than every women whoever changed nail colors would suffer serious health problems. Acetone is also injected into eggs as a preservative and used to extract spices So if we are to ban smoking in bars because of Acetone than we must ban them from cooking eggs or using any spices on their food.
Ammonia
Again stinky but not toxic, Ammonia is used for cleaning and almost every cleaning product contains it (usually they add fragrances to hide the smell). In commercial industries such as restaurants and bars plain ole ammonia is the preferred method for cleaning floors. Ammonia is also naturally produced in our body and is sweated out. If we are to ban smoking because ETS contains Ammonia than we also must ban bars/restaurants from ever cleaning their floors and we must prohibit the room temperature from ever getting to warm.
Acrolein
Acrolein is produced when fats are burn, So if we are going to ban smoking because of Acrolein then we must ban the cooking of anything with fat in it like meats. Even if you could do all your cooking "Off site" it won't matter because Acrolein gets incorporated into the food.
Arsenic
Arsenic is a heavy metal that is found in trace amounts in almost all water drinking or otherwise. Tobacco like all plants needs water to grow so any plant will contain trace amounts Arsenic, So if we are to ban smoking in bars/restaurants because of Arsenic than we must also ban them from serving anything with water and since all plants used water to grow all fruits and vegetables must be also banned to.
Benzene
Benzene is in gasoline and it takes 4695 cigarettes smoked just to equal 1 gallon of gas burned. So just the fact that cars spewing exhaust are pulling up to or just driving by the place guarantees benzene will be in the air. If we are going to ban smoking in bars/restaurants because ETS contains Benzene than we have to ban cars and trucks from ever getting anywhere near them.
Benzoapyrene
If we are going to ban smoking in bars because ETS contains Benzopyrene than we have to ban the burning of EVERYTHING!!! NO more internal combustion engines, No more fireplaces, No more Candles and NO more cooking of any food. Every organic compound in the universe that is burned releases Benzoapyrene. And again even if you could do all your cooking "Off site" it won't matter because Benzoapyrene gets incorporated into the food. All bars/restaurants must now only serve Raw food.
On a side note Benzoapyrene is often cited as one of the most potent cancer causing chemicals in the world by the antismoking Nazis which is BS, Yes it does cause cancer when test on mice however humans have been eating cooked food for many milena now so we would have evolved (or created if you prefer) to tolerate this stuff or we would all come down with cancer before we are 5.
Butane
Not toxic. A simple hydrocarbon used as a fuel it is found in Gasoline again. It Also found in natural gas so if so if we are to ban smoking in bars/restaurants because of Butane than we must ban them from frying any foods. Butane is also used as a propellant in many aerosol cans (Most notably Shaving cream) so they must be banned to, Dam the ozone layer lets go back to using CFCs.
Cadmium
Same as Arsenic above, Though this one is found in also in milk so we also must ban any and all dairy products.
Carbon Monoxide
Same as Benzopyrene, Again the burn anything you get CO
Note: Since it is the law in most places that all businesses must have CO detectors you would think if SHS produced anything approaching dangerous levels of CO those alarms would be going off like crazy.
Cyanide
Same as Benzopyrene, Burn anything organic you produce trace amounts of Cyanide that will be in the air and Well at least when there is Nitrogen in the atmosphere, So I guess smoking and cooking will be OK on the planet Venus.
Dioxin
Same as Benzopyrene and Cyanide above. Burn anything organic you produce Dioxin. But it should be noted that according to http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3106039.stm it takes 220,000 cigarettes to equal the output of one 2 hour barbecue which is more than a pack a day smoker smokes in 30 years, So again forget cooking any food.
Formaldehyde
Most famous for it's use by embalmers to preserve dead bodies, However if we are going to ban smoking in bars because ETS contains Formaldehyde than we must also ban alcohol because when your body breaks down alcohol the main breakdown product is Formaldehyde which along with it being broken down in your liver you do expel an amount of it in your breath and sweat. You also produce formaldehyde for many other bodily functions which is also released in sweat/breath. And I really hope these non-alcoholic bars/restaurants aren't in a place that is to hot or to cold because formaldehyde is used to make insulation so that must be also banned.
Indole
I am utterly shocked when I see this listed on a antismoking Nazi dangerous chemical list, It shows they are just putting things in to make their list longer thus look scarier. Indole is found in cruciferous plants like tobacco (and cabbage). Not only is Indole not dangerous it may actually be very good for you!!! It is often sold by itself as an antioxidant, estrogen blocker and anti-cancer agent. So because SHS contains Indole it may actually be beneficial.
Lead
Same as Arsenic above
Nicotine
Besides Tobacco Nicotine is found in Cabbage, Eggplant, Potatoes and Tomatoes. If it's so bad then people would be dropping dead after consuming them.
Polonium-210
Same as Arsenic above
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PHA)
Same as Benzopyrene above, Actually Benzopyrene is a PAH. PHAs are a class of simple similar organic compounds that are again formed when anything is burned. Anti-smoking Nazis will often list the names of the different isomers just to make their dangerous chemical list longer.
Propylene Glycol
The anti-smoking Nazis have got to be kidding when they cite this one. Propylene Glycol is harmless, It's used in many if not most cosmetic products, If we are going to ban smoking in bars because ETS contains Propylene Glycol than we have to ban all customers and employees who enter a bar from ever shampooing their hair. (Just go look at the ingredients on the bottle of your shampoo) Come on now, If Propylene Glycol is so harmful why are we allowed by the FDA to put this stuff on our head.
Pyridine
Pyridine is used to make many different everyday products such as medicines, vitamins, food flavorings, paints, dyes. Pyridine can also be formed from the breakdown of many natural materials in the environment. Everyone is exposed to very low levels of pyridine in air, water, and food. If we are going to ban smoking in bars because ETS contains pyridine we are also going to have to ban doctors, vitamins and food with artificial flavorings, Bars and restaurants can't paint the walls and all their curtains, napkins, table clothes must be white only. Oh and because Pyridine occurs naturally in the environment ever bar/restaurant must provide it's customers with oxygen mask.
Note: Just like with the PAHs, Anti-smoking Nazis will often list the names of different isomers of Pyridine just to make their dangerous chemical list longer.
Turpentine
Turpentine is commonly used as a paint thinner. If we are going to ban smoking in bars because ETS contains turpentine than of course we must ban all bars/restaurants from using or staining wood because it also releases turpentine and of course any pine trees (Remember Ronald Reagan talking about trees causing pollution - Well this was what he was talking about) that are anywhere near a bars/restaurant must come down.
* * * * * *
So to be consistent, If we are to ban smoking in bars\restaurants because of all the nasty things you listed than to be consistent we have to ban all the others. So the only way a bar or restaurant should be allowed to open is if
Serves nothing to drink not even water, The building can't be made of wood and can not be painted or contain any insulation of any kind and must be in the middle of a field with no trees around it and can never be cleaned and of course everybody must walk to it and neither you or the staff can wash themselves before going in and the only thing they can serve is oxygen. Sounds like fun.
* * * * * *
All part of the script whereby gub'mint bureaucrats and lame NGOs keep us all fighting over trivia and keep our attention from wandering over to the Big Picture, while at the same time justifying their do nothing existences.
Sort of like the division of races which the gub'mint encourages.
None, said they were not in possession of any such list.
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