Majority wants smoke-free workplaces: survey |
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Mon, 22 Aug 2005 19:05
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LONDON: Smoking in workplaces should be banned without exception, feel majority of people in England and Wales, who were asked to respond to a new survey by Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) and Cancer Research UK. As much as 73 per cent of the 1,000 people who were surveyed said there must be a ban.
The survey comes ahead of the government's proposed health improvement and protection bill, which is due for introduction in Parliament in November. While proposing smoke-free workplaces, the bill plans to exempt private clubs and pubs not serving prepared food from the purview of the legislation.
The study found that 85 per cent of the pollsters would still go to bars and pubs if these were declared smoke-free. Cancer Research UK's chief executive Professor Alex Markham said the study revealed that in places such as Ireland and New York there is clear evidence that going smoke-free does not damage profits.
Ash's director Deborah Arnott said the public wants action to end second-hand smoke at work.
"It now kills more than 600 people at work every year - three times the number of deaths from industrial accidents. And it causes many thousands of asthma attacks and episodes of illness."
"The pointless and damaging exemptions for pubs and clubs must be dropped from the final Bill. Smoke-free legislation must be comprehensive if it is to be successful."
Meanwhile, smokers' rights group Forest described the findings as "complete nonsense". Its spokesperson Neil Rafferty said there are other polls which suggest that about two-thirds of people are very much against a ban on smoking in pubs.
"Surveys show that most people do want to see further restrictions in public places -- and we are happy to acknowledge to that -- but the vast majority do not want an outright ban in pubs."
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