Woman with lung cancer from secondhand smoke testifies
Testimony to Montgomery County Council, June 12, 2003

This is Alice K. Helm. Most of you know me. This testimony is in the form of an open letter to Mark Doherty, General Manager of the Anchor Inn restaurant, since it probably will be my last public comments about smoke filled restaurants. There are several points I want to make before I die to Mr. Doherty, other owners of smoke-filled restaurants and bars, non-supportive Council members, and County Executive Duncan.

This is an issue of killing people, not whether the Anchor Inn may lose some business.

I never smoked. However, for many of my 75 years I inhaled the carcinogens borne by second hand smoke in restaurants such as the Anchor Inn, in elevators, at meetings, on airplanes, in stores. Health experts say that’s probably why I now have fourth-stage lung cancer that also has spread elsewhere in my body.

Since Mr. Duncan vetoed the smoking ban in restaurants a few years ago, progressive states and local jurisdictions have enacted smoke free legislation such as the bill we passed then in Montgomery County. Those jurisdictions did not see patron flight from their restaurants. Instead, what they did see was a reduced number of health problems that were due to the inhalation of carcinogens that previously permeated their smoke-filled restaurants.

Ventilation does not work. Council members, Mr. Duncan and tobacco companies know this. It is not a compromise. It is a death sentence. It is not Mr. Doherty’s right to poison the air others must breath in order to make a dollar. It is the government’s mandate to protect the public’s health. That’s why they inspect restaurants for rats, contaminated food and certainly the most important should be to prevent death from the carcinogens in second hand smoke.

I probably won’t be here to enjoy Montgomery County’s smoke free restaurants and bars. But you will have the chance to see the lives of workers and patrons last longer. And remember. I’ll be watching!

Alice Helm died last week of lung cancer.