Comprehensive public smoking ban is the only sensible option, says
health committee
Comprehensively banning smoking in public places and work places, including
Crown property, is the only sensible way to protect against exposure to
second-hand smoke, the House of Commons Health Committee says in its report
on smoking in public places, published this week.
“The evidence we have considered compels us to conclude that the
only effective means of protecting all workers from the harmful effects
of second-hand smoke is a comprehensive ban on smoking in enclosed pubic
places and work places,” the report concludes.“We therefore
agree with the chief medical officer that a failure to implement such
a ban would put England ‘among the laggards of public health’.”
The committee also disputes the Government’s contention that a ban
on smoking in all public houses and clubs would be unpopular — the
latest survey suggests, it says, that around 70 per cent of the population
would support such a ban. A comprehensive ban would be easier and more
cost-effective to implement and enforce, and would be more intelligible
to the public, the committee adds.
Responding to the report, public health minister Caroline Flint said:“[The
Health Bill offers] . . . the right balance between reducing the public
health risk while allowing an element of choice for those who do want
to smoke with a drink to do so in a way which has minimal impact on other
people.” |
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