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Smoking Ban

Introduction
Although smoking is widely known to be hazardous to health,

there are still many gaps in our knowledge of its health effects.

For instance, the tobacco industry and its agents, including

scientists and advertising agencies, continue to deny the health

evidence and portray smoking as a fashionable and desirable

habit. They promote smoking aggressively to young people and

women, especially in China and other developing countries.

While smoking is the single most preventable cause of death,

the multinational tobacco companies are also the single most

powerful advocates against tobacco control. In this report, I

would like to stress my firm conviction that smoking ban is

necessary.
Why should we promote
smoking ban?
 Tobacco is the second major cause of death in the

world. It is currently responsible for the death of one

in ten adults worldwide. The World Health Organization


(WHO), based on current patterns of consumption, predicts

that more than 500 million people currently alive will be

killed by tobacco. In developed countries, about 20% of all

deaths at present are due to tobacco. By 2020, tobacco use

will cause more than 12% of all deaths globally, which is

higher than the combined percentages of deaths from

infection with the human immuno- deficiency virus,

tuberculosis, maternal mortality, motor vehicle accidents,

suicide, and homicide. On average, smokers who begin

smoking in adolescence and continue to smoke regularly,

have a 50% chance of dying from the habit. Tobacco kills

nearly 10 000 people every day, amounting to 3.5 million


deaths annually.

 In Hong Kong, at least 10 people are killed by tobacco

each day and Hong Kong contributes 0.1% to the

global tobacco death toll.


 The economic impact from the use of tobacco will be

severe. Already, the global economic costs of tobacco

are at least US$200 billion greater than the economic

gain, with one third of this loss being incurred by

developing countries. This toll can only get worse,

with increasing costs to government, business, and

industry sectors, to the individual smoker, to passive

smokers, and to the environment.


 In Hong Kong, the Hospital Authority estimates that

the hospital costs of three tobacco-related diseases in

1996 were HK$635 million. Recently, the Hong Kong

University conducted a study showing that smoking

costs Hong Kong over five billions HK dollars each

year.

 That is why smoking ban is necessary and smoking


should be discouraged.

Law related to smoking


In order to discourage smoking, The World Health

Organization, which is the United Nations specialized

agency for health, set up a Convention on Tobacco

Control.

The Convention is a major public health treaty that gives

people protection from tobacco for the first time by

setting international standards on tobacco price and tax

increases, tobacco advertising and sponsorship, labeling,

illicit trade and second-hand smoke.

Entered into force on 27 February 2005, 127 countries

have ratified the Convention, including 26 of 27 eligible

countries in the Western Pacific Region. Countries that

signed up will be obliged to ban advertising and

sponsorship promoting tobacco products, forbid sales to

minors, force companies to print larger health warnings

on cigarette packs, use taxation to reduce consumption


and clamp down on smuggling. The Convention has the

potential to save over 10 million lives per year.

In Hong Kong, Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance,

which is the major part of the legal framework on

tobacco control, was introduced to reduce the chance of

smoking. It was first enacted in 1982. The Government

regularly reviews this Ordinance and the latest

amendments being introduced were in June 1997.

It prohibits public display of tobacco advertisements,

smoking in certain public indoor areas, such as shopping

malls and giving of tobacco products to any person for

the purposes of promotion.

Recently, the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance is

being developed. These amendments will seek to expand

no-smoking to all indoor workplaces to protect workers'

health and to tighten the control of tobacco promotion to

minimize people being influenced by tobacco

advertisements. From my perspective, it is good news for

us and we can avoid secondhand smoke easily if these


amendments are made.

Establishment of the Tobacco


Control Office of the Department
of Health in Hong Kong
The Tobacco Control Office of the Department of Health

was established in February 2001 to enhance and

coordinate Government's tobacco control efforts. The

functions of it are to:


1. Educating and assisting mangers and staff of no smoking

areas to comply with and enforce the Smoking (Public

Health) Ordinance.

2. Inspecting tobacco retailers for illegal tobacco

advertisements, improper health warnings, etc.

3. Screening printed publications for illegal tobacco

advertisements.

4. Handling complaints related to the Smoking (Public Health)

Ordinance.

5. Conducting activities to educate the public on the Smoking


(Public Health) Ordinance.

Comments
Smoking has many bad effects so it is better for smokers

to quit smoking to protect their lives. As for non-

smokers, we should avoid secondhand smoke by:

1. Choose smoke-free restaurants

2. Insist to dine in no smoking area

3. Request restaurant managers to stop people smoking

in no smoking area

4. Request security guard to stop people smoking in

shopping arcade

5. Advocate smoke-free workplace policy

6. Make your home a smoke-free place

7. Encourage your family members and friends to quit

smoking

8. Say "No" to secondhand smoke

It is believed that we should urge the government to


implement the smoking ban in all indoor areas to protect

our lives.

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