By Matt Leingang
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Advocates for a ban on smoking in Cincinnati bars and restaurants got their first hearing at City Hall on Tuesday.

Speaking in front of City Council's Health Committee, local representatives from the American Lung Association and the American Cancer Society said such a ban is needed to protect workers and patrons from diseases and other health problems linked to secondhand smoke.

Mayor Alicia Reece, who chairs the committee, said she would support smoke-free legislation. But she cautioned the speakers that large community support must be demonstrated before presenting a formal bill to City Council.

Reece asked the city Health Department to put together an advisory committee by August. The committee is to include bar and restaurant owners, health experts and ordinary citizens.

"If we do this, it can't be seen as City Council hammering down on the business community," Reece said.

On average, 53,000 non-smoking Americans die every year from inhaling secondhand smoke, including 3,000 from lung cancer and 35,000 to 50,000 from coronary heart disease, said Lisa Owendoff, communications director with the American Lung Association.

Cigarette and cigar smoke also cause asthma attacks and worsen breathing problems for people with allergies, she said.

Five states - New York, California, Delaware, Connecticut and Maine - and 72 cities had imposed indoor-smoking bans as of January, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Reece said a major hurdle to getting smoke-free legislation passed is erasing concern that smokers will abandon city bars and restaurants for those in the suburbs or across the river in Newport and Covington.

Recent economic studies in New York and California show - at worst - a negligible impact on overall business.

Rather than looking at a smoking ban as a disadvantage, it should be viewed as something to promote, said Ahron Leichtman, executive director of Citizens for a Tobacco-Free Society in Cincinnati.

After all, Leichtman said, most people don't smoke.

E-mail mleingang@enquirer.com