ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, February 10, 1996            TAG: 9602130080
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-4  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press 

CIGARETTE MAKER TRIES TO SNUFF OUT BAN PLAN

The world's largest tobacco company sent the government almost 5,000 pages of arguments Friday, the last day of the official comment period for a federal proposal to eliminate smoking in 6 million workplaces.

Philip Morris opposes the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's plan to ban on-the-job smoking, on which OSHA received more than 110,000 comments.

Don't expect a decision soon.

``It is not realistic to expect that can be done'' this year, said OSHA spokeswoman Cheryl Byrne.

Two years ago, OSHA proposed regulations that would require employers to either ban smoking or provide separately ventilated smoking lounges

But the tobacco industry insists scientists haven't proved that nonsmokers absorb enough secondhand smoke on the job to hurt them - or that secondhand smoke is even dangerous.

LENGTH: Short :   29 lines