Kessler and Talati defend Smoke-Free Air Act and secondhand smoke protections

I'm actually not sure about specific requests.

I would just want to underscore what you just referenced and what the Deputy Commissioner spoke about in her testimony, just about the

shared public health success of the Smoke-Free Air Act, the aim of reducing exposure to secondhand smoke, which remains a huge public health concern,

and moving from eight of the tobacco bars that existed at the time of the legislation to five today is consistent with what would have been expected and a reduction of these hazardous businesses that have hazardous health consequences.

And because we do think it's important to just keep a front of mind in considering these issues and when weighing this legislation, I would also love my colleague, Dr.

Achula Chalati, just to speak a bit more about secondhand smoke.

Sure.

So secondhand smoke, like you know, contains tar and cancer-causing chemicals.

And so because of that, it lowers air quality, worsens asthma, but can also cause chronic disease.

And there's no real safe level of secondhand smoke.

And I think that's why we're concerned about anything that, you know, does not continue to reduce indoor smoking over time.

And that's really why that was.

The goal of the Smoke-Free Air Act.

We also get thousands of complaints every year from New Yorkers about secondhand smoke exposure.

So for any new location, I think we're not only concerned about the safety of the staff who work at that location, but also New Yorkers who live or work nearby and will be affected potentially on a daily basis.

I mean, the legislation doesn't say carte blanche, that you can open up and that's that.

I mean, they'd have to work with you guys.

And I think we're talking about less than 10 of these places, to be honest.