PATENT OFFICE FORCED TO CONDUCT PROGRAMS ABOUT SECONDHAND SMOKE AS PART OF U.S. COURT SETTLEMENT WITH VISITOR BARRED FOR OBJECTING

In an apparently unprecedented settlement, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office must provide "mandatory training programs" to its supervisory employees to sensitize them to the serious problems caused by exposing nonsmokers to tobacco smoke.

The agreement grew out of a law suit filed in U.S. District Court on behalf of a person who was unable to access the public records because of the presence of secondhand smoke.

The "Stipulation for Compromise Settlement" provides that this training session will be presented by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH).

ASH is a national legal action organization best known for protecting the rights of nonsmokers, and for pioneering the legal strategy which permits persons sensitive to tobacco smoke to sue for a total smoking ban.

The Patent Office also now bars all smoking from any indoor areas except a small smoking room in each building þ rooms which are required to have a separate ventilation system, and must be negatively pressurized to prevent the escape of smoke.

Both the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommend that, if smoking indoors is to be permitted at all, it must be permitted only in negatively-pressured rooms with separate ventilation systems in order to prevent the escape of a known "Group A carcinogen" þ secondhand tobacco smoke.

Under the settlement, those required to participate in the program include the handicap accommodations officers, "patent examining Group Directors and Deputy Group Directors," "Supervisory Primary Examiners," and "the Director and Division/Program Managers within the Center for Patent and Trademark Information."

The controversy started when Judith Plotkin, PhD, wanted to do some research in the public files of the U.S. Patent Office, and asked for an accommodation so that she could access the records in a smoke-free area.

The Patent Office, instead of arranging a reasonable accommodation, simply barred her from using the facilities because of her objections.

Her federal law suit forced them to settle, agreeing, among other things, to reinstate her privileges and to provide this unique remedy.

"Government employees have been given training sessions about problems ranging from racial discrimination to sexual harassment," says law professor John Banzhaf, Executive Director of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH).

"Perhaps it's about time for them to learn about a problem at least as serious which kills more Americans each year than automobile accidents, crime, or AIDS."

"Indoor smoking also causes millions of people to endure severe health complications because of their involuntary exposure to tobacco fumes," he says.

An estimated 40 million adult Americans with asthma, hay fever, sinusitis, allergies, and many other conditions are especially sensitive to secondhand tobacco smoke, Banzhaf estimates.

In addition, a recent study published in the journal Pediatrics says that secondhand smoke kills between 136 and 212 children under 5 years of age each year as a result of lower respiratory tract infections, and causes at least four million to be hospitalized or visit a doctor for medical care resulting from exposure to someone else's smoke.

These, says Banzhaf, are the people whom a recent U.S. Court of Appeals decision ruled are protected under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), and may demand a complete ban on smoking if necessary to protect them from reactions to drifting tobacco smoke.

ASH provides information and complaint forms to persons wishing to ban smoking in public places or in their own workplace.

ASH - ACTION ON SMOKING AND HEALTH 2013 H Street, NW / Washington, DC 20006 / (202) 659-4310