When the haze finally lifts, it will become clear that restricting smoking in workplaces is in the interest of public health, which makes the proposal for a statewide ban the right move for lawmakers to make.

Above the understandable cries of protest from business owners and patrons and many others, a bill to expand smoking prohibitions to bars, airports and virtually all workplaces appears headed for passage.

It's never easy to enact a law to make life uncomfortable for the roughly 200,000 people who smoke — and probably vote — in Hawai'i. But there are an estimated 1.1 million residents who don't, and the majority has to rule on this issue.

State Sen. Sam Slom, R-8th (Kahala, Hawai'i Kai), an opponent of the bill, counters that medical researchers "have not firmly established the link between secondhand smoke and illness." But the National Cancer Institute asserts otherwise, estimating that 3,000 lung cancer deaths occur each year among nonsmoking American adults as a result of exposure to secondhand smoke.

That's more than enough reason for government to intervene on behalf of its citizens.

Slom also contends that smokers have rights that need to be considered.

He's right. But, as with so many private practices that are legal in this country, the rights to that practice must end at the point where it interferes with other people's rights.

And it's wrong to expect people to endanger their health as a condition of their employment. To suggest that employees who don't like it can work elsewhere discredits the entire movement to protect workers from disease and injury over many decades. We can't expect the elimination of all occupational hazards, but many can be minimized.

Exposure to secondhand smoke is one of them. This bill deserves to pass and be signed into law.