Letters: More detail on smoking laws

The article "Club, cafe owners protest proposed smoking rules (Nov. 12, page 1) describes resistance to an indoor smoking prohibition law. I strongly recommend that the reporter look into the adoption of the law in New York City prohibiting smoking indoors in bars and restaurants, and the similar protests from bar and restaurant owners that resulted (as well as bartenders, waiter associations, etc).

I believe the law is around two years old and the adoption has been quite successful -- business in bars and restaurants has not decreased one bit, and in fact may have grown. Smoking now takes place outside of clubs or at tables that are outside or on rooftops, away from other customers. It would be an interesting point of comparison to compare New York's law with the proposed law in Taiwan.

Also, there is no mention of second-hand smoke in the article, which is much more important than minors who smoke. Smoking minors is a separate problem that appears quite unrelated to smoking in clubs and restaurants.

I recommend a follow-up article to consider these two points.