Smoke-Free St. Louis City Poll

I am told that Smoke-Free St. Louis City will release a poll this morning showing that St. Louis City residents want a smoking ban. I don't buy this. The St. Louis press should be sceptical and the St. Louis public should be wary. Such polls conducted in other towns prior to smoking ban campaigns have later been debunked as rigged and bogus. I believe St. Louis is, and will remain, a free and tolerant city. If a St. Louis City bar or restaurant owner makes a good faith effort to clear his air of tobacco smoke with appropriate ventilation and filtration, I believe the vast majority of St. Louisans will gladly support his right to allow smoking within his establishment.

Air filtration machines are an especially effective means of clearing the air of St. Louis bars and restaurants. These machines remove not only tobacco smoke, but also viruses, bacteria, chemicals, pollen, dust, mold, fungi and, most importantly, radon decay products, which the EPA claims causes 21,000 lung cancer deaths per year, seven times more than secondhand smoke is reputed to cause. Commercial and industrial air filtration machines are affordable and readily available. Venues that allow smoking can be retrofitted without expensive ductwork or other construction costs. I believe that 15 air changes per hour of quality air filtration in every venue that allows smoking would cause the smoking ban issue to disappear in St. Louis.

Keep St. Louis Free! will continue to put forward the philosophical and scientific case against any St. Louis smoking ban and will also work hard to support St. Louis political leaders who have shown themselves to be friends of St. Louis freedom and property rights. These leaders include County Councilmen John Campisi, Kathleen Burkett, Hazel Erby and Mike O'Mara as well as St. Louis City Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed.