NYC parks and beaches may ban smoking

After banning smoking in all workplaces, bars and restaurants in 2003, City Health Commissioner Thomas A. Farley is looking to expand the regulation to all public parks and beaches.

The proposal was included in Farley and Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s new health policy, Take Care New York 2012, which targets New York’s 10 leading causes of preventable sickness and death.

After the 2003 change was passed, it was initially met with resistance. But in the years since then smokers have come to understand that they must smoke outside. This potential new change has some people confused and concerned.

“That sounds like a step towards martial law,” said junior Lauren Berry. “If you’re in an open space people can move away if it bothers them. If you can’t smoke outside, where are you supposed to smoke?”

NYC is home to seven beaches and over 1,700 parks in the five boroughs. Mayor Bloomberg acknowledged the difficulty the new regulations would present.

“It may not be logistically possible to enforce a ban across thousands of acres,” Mayor Bloomberg said. “But there may be areas within parks where restricting smoking can protect health.”

The goal of TCNY 2012 is to improve the overall health of the city and the 2003 ban has been credited with the decline in the total number of smokers across New York. In the hope that expanding the ban will help the percentage  continue to lower.

In the years since the change, “the city's adult smoking rate has fallen since 2002, from 21.5 percent in 2002 to 15.8 percent in 2008,” according to United Press International’s (UPI) Web site.

America’s current economy and the climbing cost of cigarettes may have more to do with the change than regulations concerning where smoking is permitted.

“I think the fact that cigarettes can be $11 a pack would contribute to less people smoking,” Berry said, “but not where you can [or cannot] smoke. I don’t think that would have an effect at all.”

Nobody will contest the fact that less adults smoke cigarettes in New York now compared to six years ago, but more changed than just where smoking is allowed.

Certain goods produced within the country, such as cigarettes, alcohol and gasoline are subject to an excise tax.

In 2002 this so-called “sin tax” was raised from the previous $0.08 to $1.50 per pack of 20 cigarettes. As of May 2009, the excise has been $2.75 per pack.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP), every 10 percent increase in cigarette prices cuts consumption by three to five percent. Since the public became aware of the dangers of smoking, many have suggested outlawing tobacco entirely. Smokers cost the country $193 billion each year in medical costs and lost wages.

Outlawing tobacco entirely would deliver a substantial blow to the nation’s already fragile economy. Excise taxes are a great source of income on both a state and a federal level.
The state of New York collects about $1.7 billion in revenue each year from city and state excise taxes, while the federal government collects over $19 billion annually.

Part of this money is being used to fund the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Founded in 1997, SCHIP provides health insurance to families with uninsured children that do not qualify for Medicaid.

This past February, President Obama signed legislation that expanded the program’s coverage from about 7.4 million children to over 11 million. Expanding SCHIP is projected to cost $32.8 billion, which much of the funding coming from cigarette excise taxes.

Health commissioner Farley may need the approval of the City Council to pass the bill or it could be done through the Department of Parks and Recreation.

Before anything gets passed, Bloomberg said he would first “see if smoking in parks has a negative impact on people's health.” No news on how long such studies would take, but the outside world is fair game for smokers — for now at least.