Thread: Authorities want smoking ban in pubs

Authorities want smoking ban in pubs


APIRADEE TREERUTKUARKUL
Health authorities are pressing ahead with their call for the ban on smoking to be extended to night entertainment venues. A feasibility study on extending the smoking ban to cover pubs, bars and other entertainment venues is under way, said Disease Control Department deputy chief Narong Sahamethapat yesterday.
The amended ban, expected to take effect by August next year at the earliest, will also cover other public venuesincluding marketplaces, he said.
The study is being jointly conducted by the department and Mahidol University's Tobacco Control Research and Knowledge Management Centre.
''Second-hand smoke has certainly taken its toll on employees of night entertainment places. We have to protect these people,'' Dr Narong said after a meeting with the national committee on tobacco control.
The safety standard level for smoke and dust in the air is 15 parts per million (ppm). However, the average level of dust and smoke at nightspots around the country is as high as 450 ppm, according to a study covering more than 50 pubs and bars in Bangkok and neighbouring provinces.
Dr Narong said he realised the initiative would draw fierce resistance from nightspot operators and smokers, but he was ''prepared'' for that.
Authorities had been gathering the opinions and views of nightspot workers for over two years before coming up with the idea that the smoking ban should be extended to pubs and bars too, he said.
A full report of the opinion survey is to be released next month, he said.
The idea was floated shortly after Hong Kong's government imposed a ban on smoking in bars, restaurants and offices.
In March, 2004, Ireland became the first country in Europe to outlaw smoking in pubs, bars and restaurants.
Similar bans are also in effect in several cities in the US, including New York.
Prakit Vathesatogkit, secretary-general of the Action on Smoking and Health Foundation, said the national committee on tobacco control would also ask the Excise Department to increase the cigarette excise tax and review the ceiling rate in an attempt to curb smoking, especially among teenagers and the poor. The ceiling is now fixed at 80% of the market price. The Excise Department currently collects cigarette tax at 79%
bangkok post