Breathe Easy NC!
It's nice to look back at a year's work and realize your team made a difference. The results are in the numbers: According to Dr. Jeffrey Engel, North Carolina’s State Public Health Director, the indoor smoking ban has resulted in an 89 percent improvement in air quality in our state’s restaurants and bars in recent months. That is a public relations success story if I have ever heard one.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency measured air samples from bars and restaurants in seven counties around the state and saw a marked decrease from previous years’ measurements. Those particles lead to breathing problems and premature death.
And what’s the downside of the smoking ban – where are all the enforcement issues and closed businesses? Since January 2 there have only been 18 reported violations - statewide. In my neighborhood, bars and restaurants that were once choked with smoke and occupied by a handful of people are smoke-free, clean and bustling. I know I am going out more – particularly to those places I avoided because of smoke, just to say thank you.
So breathe easier North Carolina, thanks to public health champions like the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association and the NC Alliance for health. And thanks to our friend public relations for helping spread the word to legislators about the need to protect the right to breathe safely.
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