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.

Definition of smoking ban
According to the encyclopedia, Smoking bans are

government prohibitions or voluntary bans decided by

establishment management on tobacco smoking in public

or quasi-public indoor areas such as offices, restaurants,

hotels, or even outdoor public areas such as parks and

sports stadiums. Laws have been introduced by many

countries in various forms over the years as health

statistics shows that tobacco smoking is often fatal for

the smokers and also for those subjected to passive

smoking (also known as secondhand smoke). For

example, the sale of tobacco to minors, or minors under a

certain age, is prohibited. Additional bases for smoking

bans are reduced risk of fire and reduced quantities of

litter. However, some countries hardly enforce their

smoking prohibitions, and continue to profit from tax on

tobacco products.

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.

Opinions on smoking bans

In the U.S., smokers and hospitality businesses initially

argued that businesses would suffer from smoking bans.

Some restauranteurs believed that smoking bans would

increase the rate of dine and dashes because it could

decrease the leisure (non-eating) time spent in the

restaurants, which could actually benefit total sales. In

fact, most businesses in Delaware, New York, California,

and Florida do survive while few businesses fail as a

result of the bans.

Within regions with smoking bans, some degree of

opposition often persists among those favoring freedom

of choice for the private business owner. However,

according to the study, at least in New York, the ban

became accepted among diners.

(The study’s site: http://www.smokefreediningpetition.com/effects.php)

My 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.