Maryland's top health official called on Gov. Parris N. Glendening yesterday to allow the state's new ban on workplace smoking to take effect in late March.
Health Secretary Martin P. Wasserman said he is urging his boss not to interfere with the implementation of the ban, which affects restaurants, bars, offices and almost every other indoor workplace in Maryland.
"I called the governor's office Friday to advise him that he should let this ban play itself out in the courts and to not intervene," said Dr. Wasserman, a physician and staunch anti-smoker. But, he added, he has not spoken with Mr. Glendening personally since the court made its ruling.
Maryland's highest court said Friday that the state's anti-smoking regulation will take effect in 30 days unless Mr. Glendening decides otherwise.
The Court of Appeals ruled against the nation's biggest tobacco companies, which wanted to delay the ban until their lawsuit challenging it could be settled.
Mr. Glendening said Friday he would study the regulation and decide what to do before it takes effect. During his 1994 campaign, he said he supported the ban -- one of the toughest of its kind in the nation -- but wanted to consider softening its impact on small businesses.
The regulation permits smoking in specially ventilated lounges, but critics say such rooms will be too costly for small businesses to install.
Dr. Wasserman said he believes that small businesses, restaurants and bars will not be hurt by the ban. To prove it, his staff is collecting data from other cities and states with smoking restrictions, he said.
The perception that the regulation will hurt business "is foisted by tobacco companies and handed to the business community as a scare tactic," he said.
Speaking of tobacco interests, he said, "This is an industry that has no conscience. They will use any tactic possible to continue to have their product sold and to continue to addict young people without regard to the individuals who are addicted and without regard to the general public."
George A. Nilson, the lawyer for several tobacco companies, said his clients were not using scare tactics. The ban will seriously hurt many businesses that cater to conventioneers and tourists, he said.
During court hearings last summer, the owners of several Talbot County restaurants and hotels said their businesses would be hurt by the ban because they would lose customers who smoke.
An economist hired by the ban's opponents said the regulation also would hurt tobacco sales in Maryland. Albert L. Nichols of National Economic Research Associates in Cambridge, Mass., said net cigarette sales could fall by $27 million to $162 million annually.
Dr. Wasserman said his concern was protecting workers' health. The regulation's goal is to prevent employees from being exposed to secondhand smoke, which has been linked to cancer, heart attacks and lung ailments in nonsmokers.
He said the state could modify the regulation after it took effect if it turned out that it was hurting some small businesses.
Mr. Glendening plans to ask his legal advisers and appropriate Cabinet members to review the regulation and make recommendations, his press secretary, Dianna D. Rosborough, said yesterday. Before making a decision, the governor will take into account the opinions of Dr. Wasserman and other officials, she said.