Pubdate: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 Source: The Herald, Everett, WA, USA Contact: http://www.heraldnet.com Author: Associated Press Note: Comments can be sent to EMPLOYEES ANGRY OVER PROPOSED BAN ON SMOKING AT HOSPITAL BREMERTON, Wash. (AP) -- A proposed smoking ban at Naval Hospital Bremerton has many employees puffing mad. Hospital officials are planning to close the only designated smoking area July 4 as a part of a larger plan to ban smoking everywhere on the 49-acre property. "It's taking away our civil rights. It's the military telling us what we can and can't do," said Maureen Melton, a federal employee of the hospital. "Why can't we smoke? It's our right as an American. Otherwise, we can all move to Russia and become a dictatorship," said another employee, Cathy Madison. But the hospital's commanding officer, Capt. Gregg S. Parker, vigorously defends the plan as a long-overdue move toward a tobacco-free workplace. "If we're going to be leaders in the health field, we should act that way," said Parker, who once ran a tobacco cessation program in Virginia. "It's time for us to lead." Clouds of smoke from the designated area also blow through the hospital's second- and third-floor wards when the wind is right because the shelter is so close to the building, said hospital spokeswoman Judith Robertson. "There are 4,000 chemicals in cigarette smoke, and 43 of them are carcinogenic. When you light that baby up, you're getting it and everybody around you is getting it, too," said Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class James McNeil, the tobacco cessation coordinator. The smoking ban is only part of an overall policy that includes free smoking cessation classes during the work day, nicotine patches and other therapies. So far, 15 of the hospital's 150 smoking employees have signed up for the tobacco cessation program since the new policy was announced last week. The majority, however, remain unmoved. "Why are they singling out this one unhealthy behavior?" asked Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Jeff Williams. "Why not go all the way and tell the hospital galley they can't serve red meat?" Other smokers say getting through an eight-hour day without a cigarette would be too hard to manage. "A lot of us have high-stress jobs to begin with," said Sandra Silbert. "If you succeed in banning smoking, then what's next?" said Carl Owen, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 48. "Do you ban obesity? Do you ban coffee?" "I call it D.G.S. -- do-gooders syndrome," said Owen, whose organization represents civil service workers at the hospital.