How you can help
There is still a loophole in the law that allows restaurants and bars to apply for a waiver if they sell cigar/tobacco. This was put in for cigar bars and not regular bars and restaurants. Email your representative and senator and let them know you would like this loophole closed.

An eight hour shift in a smoke filled room is equivalent to one pack of cigarettes-those who work in smoky restaurants are at a greater risk of getting lung cancer.

Background:
Smoking is a hazard to people's health. Smoking kills more people than alcohol, AIDS, car crashes, illegal drugs, murders, and suicides - combined. Of all the illnesses and deaths that occur throughout the state, smoking-related occurrences are the most preventable.

Tobacco companies make a product that kills 440,000 Americans a year, which is 1,200 Americans a day. The kicker is that not only does the tobacco industry produce a lethal substance that kills hundreds of thousands of Americans a year, but it also purposefully spikes tobacco with specific ingredients in order to make tobacco so addictive that people will struggle for years, even their entire lives, to give up the deadly habit without success.

Why, you may ask, does the tobacco industry knowingly and purposefully produce a deadly substance that is hard to give up? The answer is money. Additionally, the industry spends billions of dollars every year on advertising that targets young people. By targeting a young population, the tobacco industry ensures that these youngsters will be tobacco customers for life.

In order to make even more money, tobacco companies are wielding their power to block a law in Colorado that would protect people from second hand smoke. Second hand smoke leads to 53,000 deaths a year and the Centers for Disease Control has concluded that there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke, the third leading cause of preventable death in America. As a result, nearly 1,000 cities and several states have taken action to protect its citizens by banning smoking inside of all workplaces, including bars and restaurants.

Colorado's restaurant and bar workers are most at risk. Many of Colorado workers can't avoid the second hand smoke and have to spend 8 hours a day breathing in second hand smoke. In a smoke filled room for one shift of 8 hours the workers are smoking the equivalent of 1 to 2 packs a day. Restaurant and bar workers are the only remaining unprotected work force.

We can use local laws to beat big tobacco. It is time that someone countered the power and influence of the big tobacco companies, like Phillip Morris and RJ Reynolds. And that is exactly what we at CoPIRG are doing. With your help, we have a chance to win ordinances to ban smoking from all workplaces including bars and restaurants in Colorado.

But we'll need your help - we expect the tobacco lobbyists to push back hard...

Fact Sheet
Smoke-Free Colorado (PDF, 254 KB)

News Releases
CoPIRG Launches "Campaign to Protect Coloradans From Second Hand Smoke" 7/21/05