Nickels kicks off signature drive for clean indoor air initiative at PHS

Brief

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels launched the fight for smokeless indoor air by becoming the first registered voter to symbolically sign the Workplace Clean Indoor Air Initiative. Photo by Lawrie Robertson

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels launched the fight for smokeless indoor air by becoming the first registered voter to symbolically sign the Workplace Clean Indoor Air Initiative. Sponsored by Seattle area bartender, Patty Carlson, Initiative 890 protects workers and patrons from exposure to cancer-causing, second-hand smoke by prohibiting smoking in the workplace.

"We are no longer ignorant to the tragically deadly affects of working in a smoke-infested facility," Mayor Nickels said during a news conference at the PHS building on April 14. "The bottom line is that if you have to work in a bar, or a restaurant, or some other place that still allows smoking, you are far more likely to suffer and die from cancer, heart disease or other tobacco-related causes," he said.

To qualify for the November ballot, the I-890 petition needs at least 197,734 signatures from registered Washington voters before the July 2 deadline. For more information and copies of the petition, visit http://www.BreatheEasyWa.org.

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