Turf battle clouds smoking issue

Monday, April 8th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Rules that would ban smoking in most public places have sparked a turf battle between the Board of Health which adopted them and state lawmakers who insist that only they have the legal authority to tell Oklahomans where to smoke.

But members of the Board of Health and state officials who support a ban on smoking say the issue runs deeper than a disagreement over statutes and laws. They say the real issue is public health.

``Smoking is still so ingrained in our society that we don't think of it as a health issue. But this is a real health problem in Oklahoma,'' said Rep. Ray Vaughn, R-Edmond, co-author of legislation that would ban smoking in the state Capitol and many other government buildings.

``Smoking is the leading contributor to premature death in Oklahoma,'' said Dr. Leslie M. Beitsch, Oklahoma's commissioner of health. ``It is the single biggest reason that the health of Oklahomans lags behind that of 40 other states.''

Gov. Frank Keating and the House Administrative Rule Review Committee last week rejected rules that would ban smoking in restaurants, theaters, sports arenas, malls and most other places visited by the public.

Keating and the committee said the board overstepped its legal authority by adopting administrative rules that conflict with state law.

While the proposed rules would ban smoking in most indoor public places, existing law permits it in designated areas. The Smoking in Public Places Act prevents administrative rules regarding smoking from pre-empting legislative guidelines.

Dr. Jay Gregory, a Muskogee surgeon and former chairman of the Board of Health, said the board acted out of frustration with legislative lethargy on the issue of smoking.

``We took it to the limit, and the committee said no,'' Gregory said.

Health officials have declared tobacco use as the state's number one health problem and have urged lawmakers to act on a number of initiatives to prolong the lives of the approximately 6,200 people who die from smoking in Oklahoma each year _ more than from alcoholism, car accidents, AIDS, violent crime, heroin, cocaine and crack combined.

The Board of Health has also sounded an alarm over the issue of secondhand smoke, which health officials say contains more than 40 cancer-causing compounds and is responsible for the deaths of an estimated 750 people in Oklahoma each year primarily from cancer, heart disease and breathing disorders.

``There's no good health benefits from tobacco,'' Gregory said.

Bills that would require stricter enforcement of child and adolescent anti-smoking laws and add a $1 per pack tax on cigarettes to fund tobacco cessation and prevention programs for children did not make it out of legislative committees, he said.

``Our efforts have fallen on deaf ears,'' Gregory said.

House Floor Leader Danny Hilliard, D-Sulphur, said the health board may have acted to fill a vacuum left by legislative inaction on smoking issues.

``They saw bills languishing in committees and were maybe somewhat disheartened and took it upon themselves and said: 'If the Legislature won't do it, we'll do it','' Hilliard said.

Gregory said the board would have been derelict in its duty if it had not acted to protect Oklahomans from what he described as an ``injurious substance.''

``We have the responsibility for the health and well-being of the citizens of Oklahoma,'' he said.

Health officials tried to focus on the dangers of tobacco use and the need for rules at a meeting of the House committee where lawmakers expressed more concern about the board overstepping its authority and treading on legislative territory.

``They really refused to debate the issue on the merits,'' Beitsch said.

``Apparently, because of a technicality, they tell us we don't have the authority,'' Gregory said.

In their ruling, lawmakers ``accepted a tremendous amount of liability'' to protect Oklahomans from the dangers of smoking and secondhand smoke, he said.

``By their actions, they have now accepted the responsibility for the nearly 7,000 tobacco deaths we have in the state of Oklahoma every year,'' Gregory said.

While rejecting the rules, Keating said he objects to secondhand smoke and urged lawmakers ``to take a bold step for public health'' by passing measures to protect Oklahomans from secondhand smoke.

``The Legislature should respond to the governor's challenge to do what's needed,'' Vaughn said.

Legislative action is also sought by 13-year-old Dustin Palmer, a steroid-dependent asthmatic who visited the Capitol with his mother, Cathy Palmer, and other family members to express support for the Board of Health's smoking ban for restaurants and other public places.

``There's a lot of kids that I know that have asthma,'' said Dustin, who said he had difficulty breathing along state Capitol hallways where lawmakers are permitted to smoke in their offices.

``I don't think asthmatics, especially severe asthmatics, should be expected to breathe it,'' he said.

``When we go around smoke, he starts wheezing, coughing, having difficulty breathing,'' Dustin's mother said.

``If people want to smoke in their home, it's their home. But when they come into a restaurant to eat, why smoke?''