Editor,—On 10 April 1995, New York City (NYC) became the largest city in the USA to pass a smokefree restaurant law. This legislation prohibits smoking in the indoor dining area of restaurants with more than 35 seats. Smoking is still permitted in smaller restaurants, bar areas of restaurants, and stand alone bars and taverns.

Opponents of the legislation argued that the law would cause significant adverse economic losses for restaurants. Even in 1995, there were convincing published data to suggest no adverse economic consequences.1 Since then, virtually all published studies have confirmed these findings,2-5 including a detailed economic evaluation of the …