By Mark Scott
Buffalo, NY – It's been one year since the State Legislature approved a new smoking law that bans smoking in virtually all public places in New York. Thursday, a group of restaurant and bar owners who support the smoking ban gathered at Lebro's Restaurant in Amherst.
New York's restaurant and bar owners have been vocal in their opposition to the smoking ban. They claim they continue to lose business. But at least a dozen restaurant owners in the area say that's not true for them. They were joined Thursday by the former president of the California Restaurant Association, Paul McIntyre, who predicted support for smoke-free restaurants will only increase.
"I can assure you that when you hit your tenth anniversary, you'll look back -- just as we now look back at the smoking ban on airlines -- and say, 'Wow, how did we have it any other way,'" McIntyre said.
The ban on smoking was designed to protect bar and restaurant employees from the hazards of second-hand smoke. Paul Dispenza, a bartender at Lebro's, said he almost left the business after suffering for years from a chronic cough.
"I went on the Internet and looked up pneumonia and bronchitis and found that one of the major risk factors are airborne pollutants, that is second hand smoke," Dispenza said. "I put it all together. My health problems began to ease when I got away from the smoke when I started working days."
And while Dispenza says his health has improved since the smoking ban, Dr. Michael Cropp of Independent Health says research backs that up.
"Nicotine levels in the saliva of non-smoking bartenders have dropped a whopping 85 percent," Cropp said. "This is an enormous accomplishment."
And Friday, the Roswell Park Cancer Institute released the results of a study conducted by researcher Dr. Andrew Hyland.
"We've done air monitoring in a couple dozen places before and after the law and found the levels of indoor air pollution have decreased by 90 percent," Hyland said.
Hyland also says public support for the law is higher now than before it took effect.