I can't understand why models are still allowed to smoke under those tents during Fashion Week, at Bryant Park in New York. I thought all smoking was banned in public places..for everyone!

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Well dang ! Smokers stink... and are dirty. No fun to be around.

Oh, wait .... stupid, too. Any model who lets herself... or himself... be photo-ed with a cancer stick is very stupid. And any model to smokes to stay thin is pathetic.

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Don't know much about fashion but smoking bans are hitting people that smoke very hard. The govt. no matter where, is starting to infringe on the peoples right to do with their bodies as they want...to smoke or not to smoke. Bars, restaurants and other places should have the right to determine whether or not they allow smoking, it's private enterprise. If someone doesn't smoke and goes to someplace that allows it, then that person needs to put the blame on no other person than him or herself. Leave smokers alone! We've just as much rights as anyone else.

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I don't ask people to bite my fingernails and that doesn't affect ur health like breathing in that stinking second hand junk!!!

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I agree Johnny. I mean if ya go into a bar and dont like smoke.... (((DONT GO))) They have sections and stuff like that, but to completely ban it from Bars, clubs etc. Its getting ridiculous. If someone wants to smoke let them smoke.. GEESE....

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Just because you want to kill yourself, doesn't mean you have to kill those around you with your smoke. I like the ban, now I can go somewhere and enjoy myself and be able BREATH clean air and not worry about dieing from your smoke and can wake up the next day still being able to breath.

I say great for you UK - bring on the ban!!

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actually, robin, it's BREATHE, not breath. breathe is what you do on a regular basis. breath is what you're blowing out when you BREATHE. if you don't like the smoke, don't be around it. It's your choice whether you go to a restaurant that allows smoking. I stopped smoking, but i still sympathize with smokers. you have the right to breathe clean air in restaurants that have banned smoking by choice. Don't b***h when you make the conscious decision to go to a place where smokers are allowed to smoke inside.

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In Mesa, Arizona a similar ban was begun more than 5 years ago. Bar owners and bowliing alleys were worried that they would loose business. interestingly enough the opposite effect was seen. Business in Mesa's venues increased due to the desirability to non smokers of going out to a place without the harassment of smoke. While I realize that smokers do not like going outside to light up it does help business.

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I agree that smokers should be able to smoke if they want to, but in their own homes, cars or yards. If there are smoking sections in public places, someone has to be hired to work in those sections. It's improbable that everyone who works in a smoking section is also a smoker, so no matter how you look at it, people being allowed to smoke in public places of business (Bars, restaurants, whatever) means that other people have to deal with the health effects of that persons choice. No one should have to take risks with their health because of someone else's deadly habit.

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Smoking stinks! People who smoke look ignorant and weak. If a guy smokes, he can keep his stanky ass away from me honey. I love all bans against smoking.
Smokers have NO rights.

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Whatever I'd rather smoke then smell a drunk!

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I THINK THE BAN ON SMOKING IN PRIVATE CLUBS AS WELL AS PUBLIC
PLACES IS THE BEST THING TO HAPPEN TO US SINCE THE INVENTION OF KOTEX.

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I can only agree with Johnny, I for one am fed up with these bigotted people who just can't seem to understand that there still are people in the world who enjoy their habit, and who are aware that the whole 'secondhand' smoke thing is an unproven so called 'fact' dreamt up by the EPS 10 years ago.
If people wish to smoke that is their business, in the same way that people drink alcohol, or indulge in 'fast food' that is their business.
To try to link this to the fashion business and push the message again about smoking is typical,
There are far more vital issues in the World today to attend to.

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When your second hand smoke infringes on my lungs, I don't much care whether or not the smoking ban infringes on your "rights" to smoke. Exactly what part of the constitution gives you the right to smoke and/or make other people sick with your smoke?

Feel free to kill yourself in the comfort and freedom of your own home. :)

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I agree completely, we smokers should be allowed to smoke when and where we like, and if you non smokers dont like it, then DONT GO TO THESE ESTABLISHMENTS !!!!! Plain and simple, quit your BITCHING !!! You dont just put a ban on us after you got us addicted to the damn things and tell us where and when we can smoke.

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Johnny (and others who share your view that smoking is a "right"),
Your argument is patently absurd and counter to any number of anti-smoking laws/restrictions that have been upheld in various courts at various levels here and abroad. When smoke drifts into the face and ends in the lungs of a non-smoker, that smoker has infringed on the non-smoker's right to clean air and a healthy life free of obnoxious fumes and lung disease. Waiters and waitresses, barkeeps, salespersons, and any other who works where smoking is tolerated, have no recourse but to quit or face the perils of second-hand smoke. As for the view that smoking hurts no one (but the smoker), that is equally absurd thinking.
In addition to the second-hand smoke issue and its serious side-effects there is the huge cost to society for the treatment and care that must be provide when medical coverage is used up. Families suffer when their loved one's health deteriorates and contracts cancer/emphasima/etc. Loss of job productivity caused by illnesses associated with smoking and the time spent seeking refuge to get that nicotine hit are some coldly economic factors to consider. Smokers victimize themselves, their families, and society at large.

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Some quick thoughts:
- Having a smoking section in a restaurant/bar/whatever, is like having a peeing section in a pool.
- Ireland banned smoking inside pubs, and the pubs found that they were doing much better business. According to the Dubliners, it was the easiest law ever enforced in Ireland.
- Long-term second-hand smoke dangers are still not well-understood. But in the short-term, cigarette smoke is terrible for people with asthma or allergies. I see way too many kids admitted to the hospital where I work, repeatedly admitted, because their parents smoke. Oddly enough, the parents usually can't afford health insurance.
- Cigarette smoking makes you look old and haggard, not cool.

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Robin you nailed it ! My mother never smoked a day in her life, but she died from smoking, 2nd hand smoke. In her last few years of life, she couldn't go into resturants, malls, or anywhere smoking was allowed. She was wheelchair bound because her lungs were so scarred from smoke she couldn't get a breath to walk. She was on oxygen also. When she went to a new doctor, the first thing he would ask after looking at X-rays of her lungs was how long she had been smoking. It was that bad on her X-ray films. If me or my children had been anywhere around smokers, we would have to change clothes in the utility room before getting near her or it would set off a coughing spell that could actually choke her to death. I watched her die due to other people's habits. I have no sympathy for people who smoke and then come down with some illness linked to the smoking. The people I worry about is the people around them and especially the children of smokers who have no say in it. Smokers are killing, no murdering their children when they smoke around them, whether it is in the home, car, or just outside watching them play. Smokers bring in the poisons on their clothes and skin.

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As an ex-smoker I have to agree with the ban. After years of smoking I finally pulled my head out of my ass and quit. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Do I miss it still? On occassion I crave a drag or 2. However, even when I smoked I disliked the smell of cigarettes on hot days like these. And even when I -was- smoking I agreed with the ban because my behavior isn't that self-destructive. The facts are that it causes disease, wrinkles, and poor dental hygeine. Hello? There's my wake up call. And after acquiring embarrassing teeth stains from the habit I knew it was time to quit. Now I can work out better and not get winded the way I used to. I see results. I used to not. I no longer have the toxic fat around my waist that I also acquired from the habit. I actually LOST weight after I quit. I love the benefits of not smoking more than I ever did when I had my way with the habit. And still, the ban is something that I agree with.

Believe it or not there are people out there that look at it from the stand point of, "Well, even if I allowed this in my business how many customers would I lose." It's pretty obvious. I wouldn't attempt to eat or drink at a place where people are blowing smoke in my direction. AND, with sections it doesn't mean that the smoke is going to automatically STOP at the barrier. DUH. There are people, ex-smokers like me, who would enjoy not having to be in contact with that. I wasted time and money on the habit and got nothing but an addiction and bad teeth out of it.

Enough said. I applaud the ban.

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Smoking was initially allowed in bars and restaraunts at a time when we didn't have conclusive evidence linking lung cancer to smoking cigarettes. Now that we know for a fact that smoking can cause lung cancer in those who smoke and also in those who are around people who smoke, I can't see why anyone in good conscience would want to subject people to second-hand smoke. If smokers want to smoke, it should be in the privacy of their own homes or in their cars or anyplace else that doesn't infringe upon the rights of those people who make a conscious choice not to smoke. People are upset because they are being inconvenienced, but a bit of inconvenience is a lot different than being forced to breathe while inhaling unfiltered smoke (as it gets into your hair and clothing), as you're trying to eat dinner. We are adults, and we must take responsibility for our actions. Smoking is a choice that people make and it comes with certain consequences. It is not fair to inflict those consequences on those who choose not to engage in this activity. I'm truly sorry for the inconvenience, but as a non-smoker, I have rights, too.

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