Survey: ‘No
smoking’ laws
desired on Kauai

Workplace restrictions and a
ban on ads aimed at minors are
what residents desire most

By Trish Moore
Star-Bulletin

LIHUE -- Kauai is the only county without ordinances on smoking, but a recent survey found residents of the island would favor various types of anti-smoking legislation.

Bans on tobacco advertising aimed at youths and restrictions on smoking in the workplace topped the list of residents' concerns.

The survey, conducted by Market Trends Pacific for the state Department of Health's Kauai Tobacco-Free Community Coalition, was to determine the level of public support for smoking-related issues.

The study showed 78 percent believe tobacco advertising geared for minors should be prohibited, and 77 percent would support a law limiting smoking in the workplace.

Public health advocates say local ordinances can be effective in reducing smoking in public places because local officials

blrb Health advocates say local ordinances can be effective in reducing public smoking because local officials are not targeted by tobacco lobbyists. are not heavily targeted by tobacco lobbyists.

Coalition members hope the survey results will get Kauai County Council members interested in anti-smoking issues.

"We'd like to get them to look at the state laws and then see how we can produce county ordinances for Kauai," said Deli Sasaki, a Health Department liaison to the coalition.

The study also found 50 percent of residents think workplace restrictions on smoking should be created voluntarily by businesses, while 42 percent think restrictions should be imposed by government.

Julian Lipsher, director of the Health Department's tobacco prevention and education project, said the coalition is also working with businesses to create "community norms" that stress the importance of providing a safe and clean work environment.

"Where that norm is accepted and enforced by communities, then you have an effective institutionalized norm," Lipsher said. "We're working very hard with the business community to have more businesses develop policies that protect workers from secondhand smoke."

When it comes to selling tobacco to minors, it appears Kauai retailers have become far more conscientious as a result of undercover sting operations.

Statistics compiled by the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii showed that Kauai vendors caught selling tobacco to underage youths dropped from 26 percent in 1996 to 6 percent in 1998.

Statewide, those figures have dropped from 44 percent in 1996 to 15 percent in 1998.