I would like to respond to the representative's comments in a recent article that "smoking rules could be worked out among office colleagues and did not need to be set by the government." This is an interesting idea, but as any waitress, bartender or other professional who has worked around smokers will tell you, it doesn't work.

While living in Michigan, I was pregnant and shared an office and car with a chain smoker for most of a year. Despite pleas to my agency director and co-workers, I was told that this was only a concern of comfort and, as it turned out, "smokers' rights" prevailed.

My job, and my health insurance, seemed at the time like a necessity. This was 1988 and the health effects of secondhand smoke were not so widely known.

Eight weeks after birth, my son died with a lung disorder of "unknown origin" and shortly thereafter the office became smoke-free. When we leave employees to "work it out" among themselves, the younger, lower-income, uninsured and service workers invariably are left most vulnerable.

Our government responsibly sets standards for businesses on building codes, food sanitation and fair labor laws -- smoking is no different.

Mary Gillett
Greensboro