BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Less than a week after New Orleans passed a law to ban smoking in bars and casinos, some Baton Rouge medical professionals and local leaders are pushing the capital city to strike while the iron’s still hot.
On Tuesday, Mayor-President Kip Holden and leaders from area hospitals announced a Tobacco-Free Awareness campaign they dubbed “Breathe Free Baton Rouge.” They also announced that all major Baton Rouge hospitals and medical centers have committed to smoke and tobacco-free campuses.
But while Holden applauded the medical campuses for leading the way to create smoke-free environments, he told The Advocate (http://bit.ly/1CylPu0 ) he wasn’t prepared to say whether he would support a smoke ban for bars and casinos.
“I won’t speak off the cuff. I have to go and sit down and listen to people. I’ll listen to the interests on both sides, but I don’t make uninformed decisions,” he said.
Holden didn’t elaborate on his concerns about the impacts of a smoking ban but said, “My concern would be that everybody who needs to be at the table will have a chance to make their case to me.”
The New Orleans smoking ban has prompted some other cities, such as Lafayette, to also consider banning smoking in bars. Lafayette City-Parish Council Chairman Kenneth Boudreaux said last week he wants to add Lafayette to the roster of cities with such bans.
Dr. Jay Brooks, chairman of the Oncology Department for Ochsner Health Center-Baton Rouge, said it is vital for elected leaders to pursue a smoke ban, particularly in the interest of protecting workers at casinos and bars who may feel uncomfortable taking a stand against their employers.
In Louisiana, 800 people die from secondhand smoke per year, he said.
Councilwoman Ronnie Edwards said, if needed, she would “definitely” sponsor and support a smoking ban that mirrored the New Orleans ordinance.
“We should replicate what New Orleans has done,” she said. “We should be a forerunner and a pioneer, and hopefully we will see a ripple effect across the state where people are embracing this idea.”