From: Joe@smokefree.org
Date: Mon, 10/17/05
Northern Ireland to Go Smokefree
England and Wales expected to follow shortly
Parts excerpted from the UK Times, 10/17/05
PUBS and restaurants in Northern Ireland will soon be smoke-free zones. The
Government is expected to announce today that it is following the lead of
Scotland and the Irish Republic which adopted smokefree workplace legislation in
March 2004. Shaun Woodward, the Health Minister in the province, will make the
announcement after months of consultation and lobbying from those seeking clean
air and those opposing it.
Mr. Woodward recently visited Dublin and New York to assess how both cities have
administered their smokefree workplace laws. Over the summer he revealed the
results of a public consultation in Northern Ireland which showed 91 per cent of
respondents in favor of clean indoor air.
"ALL workers (including restaurant and bar workers) deserve a safe, healthy,
smokefree work environment," says Joe Cherner, founder of BREATHE-- Bar and
Restaurant Employees Advocating Together for a Healthy Environment. "Laws
should treat the health of all workers equally. Bar and restaurant workers
should have the same right to a smokefree work environment as everyone else.
No worker should have to breathe tobacco smoke pollution to hold a job, because
it causes cancer, respiratory illness, and heart disease."
The Northern Ireland announcement comes as the Cabinet in London is still
deciding how to proceed in England and Wales. It is increasingly likely that
the Government will drop plans for a partial ban exempting pubs and bars which
do not serve food, opting instead for a uniform nationwide law. A consultation
exercise concluded that a partial ban would be unworkable and unenforceable.
The Ulster Cancer Foundation said that the minister must not take the soft
option of a partial ban. "Shaun Woodward has been given a golden opportunity to
drastically improve the health of the people of Northern Ireland," Gerry
McElwee, the head of cancer prevention at the foundation, said.
But Nicola Carruthers, chief executive of the Federation of the Retail Licensed
Trade, Northern Ireland, said that she was making no predictions about what the
minister would announce. Ms Carruthers said: "What we fear is a complete
smoking ban. What we hope is that there is still room for a small compromise."
She claimed that 400 pubs in the Irish Republic had closed down and 7,500 people
had lost their jobs since the Irish ban came into force. "Some pubs have reduced
opening hours, some publicans in rural areas have been forced to take second
jobs.
But a report published last week by the Office of Tobacco Control in the Irish
Republic rejected that claim. It found instead that retails sales in bars in
the Republic have increased in volume over the past three months in comparison
with the same period last year. Similar reports have been published in other
smokefree localities.
To win smokefree air where you live, go to http://www.smokefree.net/alerts.php
Joseph W. Cherner
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the
world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead
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