Deeds Signals Support for Restaurant Smoking Ban

Press Release

Deeds Signals Support for Restaurant Smoking Ban

Senator R. Creigh Deeds released the following statement today in support of Governor Tim Kaine's legislation to ban smoking in restaurants throughout the Commonwealth:

"Governor Kaine is right to push for an end to smoking tobacco in Virginia restaurants and I will be supporting passage of his legislation in the Senate.

"The scientific evidence is clear: secondhand smoke has a significant and devastating effect on the health of non-smokers. The evidence in restaurants is particularly compelling. The level of secondhand smoke exposure for non-smokers is at least twice as high in restaurants as it is in homes and offices with smokers. Food service workers have a 50 percent higher chance of dying of lung cancer, due in part to secondhand smoke exposure."

"In the face of such clear and compelling evidence, we must act to address this significant threat to public health. I urge my colleagues, in both parties and in both houses of the legislature, to join me in supporting this important legislation."

Senator Deeds has supported efforts to ban smoking in restaurants in previous years. In 2007, he voted for the Virginia Smoke Free Air Act, Senate Bill 1161 (Bell), and last year supported the Virginia Indoor Clean Air Act, Senate Bill 501 (Locke/Northam).

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