Bar patios are one of the few remaining places San Franciscans can legally smoke in public. But on Monday, a committee of city supervisors will consider eliminating the exception for patio smoking, and join over 50 other cities in the Bay Area with similar bans.
The proposal has sparked a heated debate between patrons and bar owners, who say their businesses are already hurting, and public health experts — who say anti-smoking laws have played a significant role in reducing tobacco consumption from 42% to less than 15% nationally, since the 1960s.
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“ Rather than allowing or even encouraging this behavior, we should take every effort to try to educate the public, and to try to protect both the customers as well as the employees of these establishments,” Dr. John Maa, a surgeon at Chinese Hospital, said. “We want to reduce their risks of heart disease, of stroke, and of cancers.”
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