During the past few years, hundreds of thousands of bars, restaurants and other workplaces have implemented smokefree policies. Ireland this week instituted a sweeping ban against workplace smoking that could be the beginning of a trend in Europe.

Workplace health and safety is the primary goal of the campaign for smokefree air. Although some people contend that employees can just go find another job, employers are responsible for providing the safest workplace that can reasonably be achieved. Requiring smokers to step outside a restaurant or bar for a few minutes is certainly reasonable -- this occurs in virtually all other workplaces. As Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City once said, "You shouldn't have to choose between your health and your job."

Some argue that a smokefree workplace law is an unwarranted government intrusion on private business. Would these same people advocate the repeal of other public health codes for restaurants and bars? Of course not -- the public welcomes Health Department inspections to ensure food safety in restaurants. Although hospitality establishments are privately owned businesses, they are also by definition, public places. The government has the right, indeed the responsibility, to ensure public health and safety.

Tobacco smoke pollution (TSP) contains almost 4,000 chemicals, over 40 of which are carcinogenic. TSP is the third leading cause of death in the United States, responsible for approximately 53,000 deaths each year (according to the U.S. Surgeon General, National Cancer Institute and others). A smokefree policy in public places is an important step in reducing these horrific and easily preventable deaths and even more illnesses.

Some restaurant owners, after being misled by misinformation from Big Tobacco, fear that clean air policies will hurt business. This is simply not true. Every objective study not funded by the tobacco industry has concluded that smoking bans do not have a negative economic impact. Several years after California's smokefree restaurant and bar law took effect, business is better than ever. And the health of the affected employees has improved significantly. (For more information, see www.TobaccoScam.org.)

Some groups in the hospitality industry now recognize the benefits of a clean air policy -- last year, the New York State Restaurant Association supported the successful implementation of a statewide smokefree dining law. The only business hurt by smokefree laws is the sale of cigarettes -- prompting the purveyors of nicotine to use any tactic that might impede such efforts.

One strategy employed by Big Tobacco to block clean air policy is pre-emption, used in Pennsylvania and several other states to prevent local governments from enacting and enforcing their own public health laws. In 1988, the tobacco lobby pushed hard for the inclusion of a preemption clause in Pennsylvania's "Clean Indoor Air Act." In January 2003, the Allegheny County Board of Health gave serious consideration to a smokefree restaurant regulation, but was handcuffed by this repressive statute.

This law is 15 years old and was enacted when the true dangers of tobacco smoke pollution were not fully known. But times have changed. Since the Environmental Protection Agency's 1993 report classifying TSP as a Group A carcinogen (no safe level of exposure), many governments have passed smokefree laws to protect workers and customers.

There is a plan to make it happen in Pennsylvania. State Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery, has introduced Senate Bill 494 to repeal pre-emption and protect virtually all employees, including those who work in bars and restaurants, from the hazards of TSP. The repeal of pre-emption enjoys popular support across the commonwealth -- a recent poll conducted by the Pennsylvania Alliance to Control Tobacco (PACT) shows registered voters in favor by 61 percent to 34 percent. SmokeFree Pennsylvania, American Cancer Society, Clean Air Council and others are working to support legislation that would repeal pre-emption, promote public health and ensure workplace safety.

Many places across the United States are making progress on clean indoor air -- California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts and New York have enacted smokefree laws that apply to restaurants and bars. Dallas, Toledo and even cities in tobacco-producing Kentucky and Georgia now recognize the right of all employees to a safe workplace.

Attracting people to our region will prove difficult if they can go elsewhere and avoid the dangers and personal intrusion of tobacco smoke in public places. If we don't keep pace with more progressive areas of the country, how can we expect to grow and thrive?

Pennsylvania should take the following steps: Repeal the pre-emption clause to empower local governments, or pass a statewide smokefree law for all workplaces. Contact your state legislators and demand action -- let's transform our old "Smoky City" into the new "SmokeFree City."