Tougher ban is blow for health

Acity that seeks to be a national leader in health sciences, in a state that's among the nation's most unhealthy, has a chance to strike a double blow for progress.
This month, the City-County Council will begin deliberations on a proposal to close the yawning loopholes in the anti-smoking ordinance it passed in 2005.
The new ordinance being offered by Democrat Angela Mansfield and Republican Ben Hunter would remove the exemption for bars and bowling alleys from the current ban on smoking in restaurants, hotel lobbies and other public spaces.
Owners of the targeted places, along with their trade groups and many of their patrons, will mount furious opposition, as always. The arguments they have used successfully in the past -- that smoking bans are devastating to business and that smokers have inalienable rights -- ought to be snuffed out for good.
The experience in Indianapolis since 2005, and in the 11 Indiana communities and 26 states that have imposed comprehensive bans, does not substantiate claims of business falloff and in fact offers evidence of positive effects on patronage.
Meanwhile, the "civil rights" mantra has been blown away by research documenting the deadly effects of secondhand smoke -- and by studies showing significant reductions in heart attacks in workplaces with smoking bans.
As half the states have emphatically stated, smoking is not the prerogative of the smoker. In public places, it endangers customers, passersby and especially those who must work there all day or night.
In private, the harm is still everyone's. Cigarettes cost Indiana an estimated $3.5 billion a year in hospitalization, lost work time and other consequences. Because Hoosiers smoke more than residents of all but a few other states, anti-smoking efforts ought to be stronger here than elsewhere, not timid and diluted.
In Central Indiana, health is, ironically, big business. WellPoint and Eli Lilly and Co. are here, along with a host of other health and life-sciences enterprises anchored by Indiana University and its medical school. The American College of Sports Medicine, a leading voice for illness prevention, claims Indy as its pulpit.
If the enormous potential of health-related economic activity is to be exploited here, the city -- and state, for that matter -- cannot justify lagging behind a changing nation. Nor can they compete adequately for business in general with a now-glaring lifestyle disadvantage.
Health matters more than wealth. But the two are inseparable. The council must recognize that the future for both is smoke free.