Smokers might one day become an endangered species, but they won't find a habitat anymore at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium.

	Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette The Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium banned smoking on the premises last month, although there are designated smoking areas off-site. This one is in front of the main entrance. . Click photo for larger image.

Last month, after more than a year of discussion and planning, the zoo officially became tobacco-free. Neither visitors nor staff are allowed to smoke or use other tobacco products on the property.

Spokeswoman Connie George said health concerns and public demand prompted the change.

"Secondhand smoke is proven to cause cancer in both animals and humans," she said. Also, "we have a disproportionate amount of children here, so it's even more reason to eliminate smoking."

While the zoo forges ahead, state efforts to develop a public tobacco ban have once again stalled.

Last week,a 14-14 vote of the House Health and Human Services Committee fell short of the required majority to forward for consideration of the full House a bill that would have banned smoking in most public places.

The failure of state legislators to move forward could thwart the Allegheny County Board of Health from establishing a ban locally.

Board members "were hoping the commonwealth would take action and do something," said county Health Director Dr. Bruce Dixon. "Now that the state has opted not to, I don't know where the Board of Health is going to be on this. I think it's up in the air."

During a meeting last month, Ricky Burgess prodded his fellow board members as far as they had ever gone along the path toward instituting a ban.

After hearing a report from Tobacco Free Allegheny, he spoke of his frustration and concern that years of discussion had not led to any substantial movement toward prohibiting smoking in public places. Mr. Burgess and five other health board members are also on Tobacco Free's board.

His feelings were quickly echoed by other board members, with one saying he'd second if Mr. Burgess made a motion for a ban. Instead, they decided to refer the issue to the policy committee, and Mr. Burgess said he preferred to try to build consensus before proposing a regulation.

Those dramatic minutes had Tobacco Free's executive director Cindy Thomas holding her breath.

"That was really a very big deal," she said. "It's absolutely the furthest we've ever gotten."

Ms. Thomas was disappointed the proposal for a statewide ban didn't make it out of committee, and is hoping the county Health Board will not be swayed by the inaction.

"I thought there were probably the votes around the table to have passed at the Health Department board back in May," she said. "It strikes me that if a recommendation came from the policy committee that they might have the votes to move it forward."

But the board might not have the legal authority to act, and any proposed regulation would have to be approved by the County Council and county executive, noted county Health Director Dr. Bruce Dixon.

Still, board members want to review the issue publicly, he added, so "they will probably discuss it at their July meeting and come up with a strategy."

"I'll be there with bells on," Ms. Thomas said.

Eleven states have comprehensive smoking bans, she said. Another five have bans that are less complete, usually because they have exempted bars.

"What we're seeing now on a nationwide basis is more and more traction," she said.

Smoking is not as common as people seem to think, Ms. Thomas noted. Surveys indicate that about three-quarters of adults are nonsmokers.

"It's not just that people who don't smoke don't like tobacco smoke," she noted. "It's that they're assuming a health risk by sitting in a bar or a restaurant with people who do smoke."

The Pennsylvania Restaurant Association supports existing Clean Indoor Act provisions, which say dining establishments with more than 75 seats must provide a nonsmoking seating area, said chief executive officer Patrick Conway.

"Restaurants are in the hospitality business and they stay in business by offering their customers the choices they're seeking," he said. "The marketplace is working exactly the way it should."

More smoke-free restaurants have been appearing as more customers choose to frequent them, Mr. Conway explained.

The restaurant association wouldn't support a mandate that permits smoking in some locations, such as bars, while prohibiting it in others, such as restaurants, he added.

"That would be the wrong direction to go," Mr. Conway said.

Amy Christie, executive director of the Pennsylvania Tavern Association, said a sweeping tobacco-free policy would cripple the consumer's freedom of choice.

"A total smoking ban would keep a lot of the smokers at home, which would then result in a serious loss on the bottom line of a small business owner," she said.

Unlike large chains with liquor licenses, mom-and-pop establishments rely more heavily on customers who hang out with friends and watch sports, and who might want to smoke a cigar or cigarette while they do it, Ms. Christie said.

"Obviously, no one should be smoking in a day care, in a playground or a school or a hospital," she said. "That's common sense."

Gabby Boldizar, 22, a special event coordinator at the zoo, has smoked for five or six years. But she never smokes around children or even in her own house. While she'd be fine with a ban on smoking in public venues such as restaurants or malls or parks, she thinks there should be exceptions to a rule.

"Bars, for instance," Miss Boldizar said. "I think there's no reason to ban it there."

The zoo sought advice from the Allegheny County Health Department and Tobacco Free Allegheny as it put together its tobacco-free policy, said Ms. George, who quit smoking five years ago. With their assistance, smoking cessation classes will be provided on-site for interested staff members.

"Not everybody wants to quit," she said. For employees who do, "we'll give them the best opportunity for success."

Miss Boldizar signed up for a cessation class. Having stopped smoking for a while last year, she's in the process of "requitting," as she put it.

"I've quit smoking at work since we're no longer allowed to smoke on the grounds," she said. "I prefer not to use the designated smoking areas they have given us."

There are about 30 smokers on the zoo's full-time staff of 120. They are permitted to smoke in two areas at the fenced edge of the grounds that are inaccessible to visitors, Ms. George said.

A zoo task force that included both smokers and nonsmokers considered designating an area on the property for tobacco use, which some zoos have done, before deciding against it.

"We really don't have a place that's far enough away from both the animals and the visitors," Ms. George explained. "If they're away from the visitors, they're closer to the animals."

Some might find it hard to refrain from lighting up while on zoo property because it takes more than three hours to tour all the exhibits.

Signs prohibiting tobacco use have been posted along the visitor pathways, but in the first weeks of the policy's implementation, Ms. George had to tell a few visitors who were smoking about the new rule.

"They put their cigarettes out right away," she said. "It really wasn't a problem. I think people understand."