Crackdown on Smoking

Smokers light up at their peril nowadays. An aggressive anti- smoking movement of health experts, public-interest groups and individuals offended by smoking has led to a wave of bans on smoking in the workplace, in restaurants and in public places. Some firms even limit hiring to employees who don't smoke -- on or off the job. Fueling the crackdown is an array of studies warning that exposure to passive, or secondhand, smoke from active smokers can be fatal to nonsmokers -- particularly children. Politicians, administrators and worksite supervisors face a delicate policy dilemma as cries of unfair treatment are heard from smokers'-rights groups, civil libertarians and a familiar veteran of struggles over smoking: the powerful U.S. tobacco industry.