In Forsyth County, North Carolina's tobacco capital, volunteers are asking local restaurants to snuff out their smoking sections as a way to improve the health of pregnant women.

The reason: Babies of black women who smoke during pregnancy die four times as often as those of pregnant white women who smoke, according to the Forsyth County Infant Mortality Reduction Coalition.

"We're trying to reduce infant mortality, in part by reducing areas where pregnant women are exposed to cigarette smoke," said J. Nelson-Weaver, director of the coalition.

County figures show that, between 1995 and 2000, 59 infants and unborn children died for every 1,000 pregnancies among black smokers. For white smokers, the rate was 14 deaths per 1,000 pregnancies.

For nonsmokers, 29 black babies died for every 1,000 pregnancies; there were 10 deaths per 1,000 among whites.

In addition to working toward safer public environments, county health officials are trying to persuade women not to smoke while pregnant.

Forsyth County leads the state in that category as well.

Numbers from the N.C. State Center for Health Statistics for 2001, the most recent available, show 15 percent of pregnant minorities in Forsyth County smoked while pregnant, compared with 11.2 percent for the rest of North Carolina.

The campaign, "Smoking and Babies Just Don't Mix," started last year and runs through January. The county has used billboards, posters and advertisements to urge pregnant women not to smoke.

Workers put small stickers on restaurant bills asking owners and managers to make their businesses smoke-free.

The latest phase involves meeting with owners and managers and directly asking them to ban smoking.

More than 100 volunteers plan to visit about 700 eateries in the county by the end of August, Nelson-Weaver said.

One recent visit was to the Omega House Restaurant, which opened 12 years ago in Winston-Salem. Smoking is permitted in the entire eatery.

Owner George Yannopoulos said people must decide whether they want to risk their health by smoking or breathing secondhand smoke in his restaurant. His job is to provide good food, he said.

"Those people should be responsible for themselves. How could we be responsible for anybody?" he asked.

Many of his customers are current and former employees of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., the nation's No. 2 cigarette maker, he said.

Tobacco is entrenched in the community, he said, and a restriction on smoking would severely hurt his business.

N.C. law allows businesses to decide whether they will be smoke-free, said Sally Malek, who heads the tobacco prevention and control branch of the N.C. Division of Public Health.

"More sites and restaurants are choosing to be smoke-free," she said.

Jenny Green is one of those business owners. She opened the Triangle Diner about two months ago in Winston-Salem.

Customers appreciate the clean air, she said, adding that smokers either leave when they see the nonsmoking sign or step outside to light up.

RJR spokesman David Howard said his company believes business owners should decide whether to permit smoking.

"It's their establishment," he said.