The clash rages between smoking as a right or as a public health issue

The sign said “Please enjoy smoking.” And they did. Twenty years ago, I arrived at the massive Philip Morris plant in Richmond for the most unlikely purpose: to perform Shakespeare.

The multifaceted corporation was the leading sponsor of the Virginia Shakespeare Festival and had funded a late summer tour of “Much Ado About Nothing.” I was a member of the festival and we were there for a weeklong stint to perform the comedy in the cigarette factory’s huge auditorium.

I should say “smoke-filled” auditorium.

The employees of Philip Morris’ cigarette factory were not required to smoke (I presume), but they darn well could smoke anywhere they pleased.

Although I was impressed by the inner workings of how they produce cartons of cigarettes each day (and can pinpoint who ran the machine and when they were assembled), I was still out of my element.

I am a lifelong non-smoker. Even back in those college days hanging around with the theatre crowd, I never picked up the habit. I didn’t even bum a smoke from a friend after a few drinks, as some of my friends would do.

I really couldn’t have anyway. As someone who grew up around a chain smoker, I never got used to the habit. In fact, I tried mightily in my own personal campaign to reduce secondhand smoke by avoiding contact with smokers as much as I could. Or at least making sure I was near a window, an open door or a fan if smoking were taking place.

And even though I do not blame my health problems on others, I do know that as a child and now as an adult, I have major breathing problems and allergic reactions to smoke and other air contaminants. (I’ve got the inhaler to prove it.)

So it is with a bit of glee that I read the recent headlines that Gov. Tim Kaine is once again making a push for banning smoking in restaurants and bars. This is his third attempt since taking office, having failed to convince legislators in 2007 and 2008.

Reactions are mixed, needless to say, especially in a state where tobacco has ruled for centuries. The governor stated he thinks the momentum is on his side this time.

Our neighbors Washington, D.C., Maryland and even Tennessee all have restaurant and bar smoking bans in place. And guess what? The bans have had little impact on business in those areas, according to restaurant owners. To be fair, many here in Virginia are crying foul at this.

The other side of this issue —tobacco companies, the tobacco lobby, smoker’s right groups, and others — usually have an answer for every statistic the anti-smoking side can come up with.

Gov. Kaine may be onto something, however, when it comes to sentiments against public smoking. Recently, the Tennessee Medical Association announced its efforts to have legislators ban adults smoking in cars with children. A published study on the effects of a smoking ordinance in Pueblo, Colo. is also revealing.

Pueblo enacted a municipal smoke-free ordinance in 2003. The Pueblo City-County Health De-partment conducted research over three 18-month periods to see if the rates of heart attacks seemed to be affected by the ordinance. After 36 months, heart attack rates fell by 41 percent in the area that fell under the smoking ordinance.

Even if the ordinance did not reduce the number of smokers, in Pueblo the general state of health was improved.

Can Virginia follow suit and become more smoke-free? I believe the jury is still out. Old habits die hard, especially when it comes to “The Mighty Leaf.”

CHANGING TIMES: Here is an actual 1939 ad slogan for a famous brand of cigarettes: “Philip Morris — a cigarette recognized by eminent medical authorities for its advantages to the nose and throat.”

Walker’s column runs Wednesday’s in the Star-Exponent.