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REGULAR MEETING MARCH 29, 2016 the industry in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Evansville, or Hamilton County then our small businesses should do even better. The research is very clear on this issue. The Mayor thanked the Council for creating a longer implementation time for compliance and added his administration will seek out ways to support affected businesses throughout the transition. No one likes being told what to do but that's how laws passed by elected officials work in American democratic elected processes. It is time for South Bend to join the rest of the county and recognize a choice between public health and small business is a false choice. This is an emotional issue but we make decisions based on evidence, especially life and death decisions. He thanked the Council for their work, diligence, and leadership on this issue. Tony Flora, 202 E. Angela South Bend, spoke not only as a resident but also in his capacity as the President of the AFL -CIO for our area. In about a month we will be having an event at the Workers Memorial site at Howard Park to recognize the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970, when for the first time in our country we said it was a basic right of all workers to have safe and healthy work places. We also began at that time to establish fair and scientific standards to constitute safe work places and what did not. We have continued to expand those rights and that understanding. There is no argument today that secondhand smoke is not detrimental to people's health. He spoke for employees and people who would want to be an employee of one of these businesses. Never should a worker have to choose between making a living and giving up some of their health because that is the essential argument tonight. Our state finally passed legislation that work places should be smoke free but they carved out a little exception and community by community we have to address it. It is time for South Bend to say all workplaces should be healthy workplaces. Secondhand smoke is an impediment to employment and a problem for those people who want to be employees. We do not argue that an employee can make it a choice and work in a less healthy work environment and we don't say we will allow some businesses to have free floating asbestos or some places to have high amounts of silicon dust and you make that choice to work there. The time is now to address this one last area of where people work. Mike Sabith, 5629 Slerting Dr. Granger, stated he is new to the community and has been here for four (4) years. He is a cardiothoracic surgeon who is here to talk about public health risks of secondhand smoke. Back in 1919 the first case of lung cancer, at that time the disease was unheard of and no one thought they would see it again. In 1936 the association between lung cancer and smoking was first brought forward even though those doctors were castigated at the time It took thirty (30) years until the Surgeon General actually made the association between smoking and lung cancer. We have had twenty (20) million Americans die from lung cancer in the fifty (50) years since the Surgeon General made that report. Two and a half million Americans have died from second hand smoke during that time. Ninety (90) percent of his practice is related to smoking related diseases. The only economic impact you will see from this is that it will put me out of business and that's a good thing. The only people that don't think this is a health risk are those in the tobacco industry and those that smoke. He encourages the Council to pass this bill. Sam McGrath, Radiation Oncologist at the Memorial Regional Cancer Center, thanked the Council for allowing him to speak about the dangers of secondhand smoke. His position on this issue is shared by all five (5) of the oncologists within the Beacon Medical Group. Secondhand smoke is one of the silent public health crisis of our era. As was stated before two and a half million Americans have died from secondhand smoke exposure and this year alone 42,000 Americans will die from secondhand smoke. It also goes beyond lung cancer, secondhand smoke exposure exacerbates asthma, contributes to heart disease and stroke, and can increase susceptibility to contracting tuberculosis. Dr. McGrath stated he has treated a bartender in a smoking establishment whose biggest concern was not the cancer they were dealing with but repeated mucus plugs within their lungs. He has treated a musician who contracted cancer of the larynx due to the secondhand smoke he received during his performances. The physicians in oncology can tell the Council story after story of similar instances and they are all absolutely heart breaking. The economic effects of smoking also need to be discussed. Smoking related illness within the United States costs us more than $300 billion dollars each year, $170 billion