SMOKE AND NUMBERS

It has been known for years that secondhand smoke is dangerous. Slowly, smoking has been banned in offices, airplanes, restaurants, even bars in some places. The argument for preventing people from lighting up is that second-hand smoke imperils the health of people who work in these places. It is inevitable that smoking will soon be banned in all places where workers could be exposed to it.

Last week, it became clear, however, that a plan to ban smoking in the state’s bingo halls would have unintended economic consequences for one of the state’s Indian tribes. High-stakes bingo, which is held seven times a year, accounts for half the revenue of the Penobscot Nation, its governor, Barry Dana, said. And, since 75 percent of those who travel from southern New England and Canada to the games on Indian Island smoke, the ban would wreak economic havoc on the tribe, the governor said.

The House of Representatives has heard the Penobscots’ argument and Monday reversed its blanket support of the bingo hall smoking ban and voted, 74-55, to exempt the tribe’s bingo games. The Senate earlier rejected the exemption and the two chambers must now resolve these conflicting stances.

Lawmakers should give the Penobscot Nation time to address ways to protect the health of the 74 tribal members who work in their bingo parlor. Gov. Dana has acknowledged that smoking is bad for the health of his fellow tribal members. “We’re taking a stance on health issues here. …,” he said recently. “We’ve made all of our buildings nonsmoking, we’ve definitely taken the position that smoking is not healthy.”

Gov. Dana is partly right – there’s no doubt that smoking is not healthy, but the tribe has not made all its buildings nonsmoking. While it has recently invested $1 million in a smoke removal system in the Sockalexis Bingo Palace, this has not completely alleviated the problem. The state does not want to take away an important source of revenue away from the Penobscot Nation, but the days of buildings where smoking is allowed are clearly numbered.

Members of the Penobscot Nation are also worried about their right to govern their own affairs. However, tribal representatives, who have long been outspoken on the pollution of tribal lands and water, should recognize that protecting the health of their members is of public concern. The tribe’s representative to the Legislature, Donna Loring, said the proposed bingo hall smoking ban “carries a tinge of paternalism with it.” Telling people they can’t smoke because it’s bad for others’ health is paternalistic. But, in this case, the state is acting because the people who should be protecting the health of their workers have not.

When a smoking ban was proposed for the state’s restaurants, it was predicted that eateries would go out of business if cigarettes were snuffed out. That hasn’t happened. Given time to adjust to the change, a prohibition on smoking need not be the death knell for Penobscot high-stakes bingo either.