By Matt Leingang
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The smoking war may be heating up in Cincinnati.

Separate surveys indicate that a majority of Cincinnatians would be willing to support a ban on smoking in the workplace, and a majority of bars and restaurants returning surveys are either smoke-free or plan to go that direction.

SMOKING POLL

Most Cincinnatians would support a law that banned smoking in bars and restaurants, according to a new poll. If city restaurants were required to go smoke-free: -60 percent said they'd be more willing to eat there. -21.8 percent said they wouldn't change their current patronage. -16.3 percent said they would be less likely to go. Source: Cincinnati Clean Indoor Air Coalition

The Cincinnati Clean Indoor Air Coalition, an advocacy group funded with money from the national tobacco settlement, commissioned a telephone survey in April of 500 registered Cincinnati voters.

Sixty-four percent said they would support a law prohibiting smoking in all offices, businesses and other workplaces.

The poll was conducted by Fallon Research and Communications Inc. and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

"The results clearly show where public opinion is on this issue," said Tracey Carson, spokeswoman for the group.

At about the same time, the Cincinnati Health Department, hoping to gauge business attitudes, sent a survey this spring to 1,725 owners of bars and restaurants in the city. A total of 490 forms - 28 percent - were completed and returned.

Of those, 230 said they have no plans to prohibit smoking. But 25 bars and restaurants said they intend to go smoke-free voluntarily, joining 235 eateries that returned surveys and have already done so.

City Health Commissioner Malcolm Adcock called the survey a "first step." The survey will be updated every year to see where the industry is going.

Adcock, who has not pushed City Council for a smoking ban, said he wants the community to start talking about the issue.

"I hesitate to talk about legislating this change at this point," Adcock said. "I think it will eventually come. But the will of the people is necessary to move it forward. This survey is one way to keep the issue on the front burner."

Nationally, five states - New York, California, Delaware, Connecticut and Maine - and about 72 municipalities prohibit smoking in almost all workplaces, including bars and restaurants, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Lexington's smoking ban was challenged but upheld by the Kentucky Supreme Court in April.

Cincinnati does have a law, passed in 1985, that limits smoking to designated areas of restaurants and bans it in most public places, but bars and bowling alleys are exempt.

Smoke-free indoor air laws protect employees and customers from exposure to secondhand smoke, a carcinogen associated with increased risks for heart disease and lung cancer in adults and respiratory disease in children, especially asthma, public health advocates say.

Owners of bars and restaurants often argue that such laws are bad for business, although recent studies by the CDC indicate that overall sales revenues don't drop - they actually increase - in states and cities that have smoking bans.

Still, the issue is contentious.

"My preference would be a smoke-free environment, but I'm a businessman, so what am I going to do?" said Jimmy Gherardi, owner of J's restaurant on Madison Road in Hyde Park.

Gherardi said he tries to accommodate both sides. No smoking is allowed in his dining area, but people are allowed to smoke at the bar, which has a separate ventilation system.

"I don't know if smoking bans hurt business or not, but I'm sensitive to the possibility," said Mike Kull, owner of the Dubliner, an Irish pub in Pleasant Ridge. Kull, a nonsmoker, said he's considered going smoke-free.

Kull said he's aware of the irony: In March, Ireland became the first country in the world to ban smoking in all its pubs and restaurants.

But for now, Kull said he doesn't want to see it legislated here. He said it should be the choice of the business owner whether to go smoke-free, which is the position of the Greater Cincinnati Restaurant Association.

Thomas and King, the nation's 11th-largest restaurant operator, announced this week that it will institute a smoke-free policy at its Applebee's franchises, including 18 in Greater Cincinnati.

E-mail mleingang@enquirer.com