Smoke signals

Civilisation is all about the customs and cultures of a given society working hand in hand with the growing possibility for changes to occur which may improve the way its people think and live. It educates and reminds us to be civil in all of our pursuits and undertakings, which means that we must endeavour to be respectful of others who live in the same social system.

This brings us to the ongoing issue of pros and cons related to the arguments about smoking in restaurants. If there was a law to forbid smoking in cafés and restaurants, there would be no cause for further discussion, the matter would be closed. Half the population would disagree with the rigid rule, and there would be an uproar to contest the other way round, this time, grudging the ban to enjoy a smoke with a cup of coffee or after a meal in a restaurant. For a while, people who smoke would feel irate and forget to be civil but, hopefully, they would eventually calm down and adapt themselves, as they did to non-smoking in cinema auditoriums.

People will continue to smoke elsewhere, so this would not really effect the tobacco industry any more than the fitness fad and health conscience does. What it might affect though is the turnover of people visiting restaurants, for there is no telling whether non-smokers outnumber smokers when it comes to eating out regularly.

The only way to extract such data would be to devise a roster over a period of six months within peak season where each restaurant would adopt a "smoking" policy for three months and "non-smoking" policy for the other three months, to evaluate whether restaurants would actually survive a complete ban.

An alternative to appease everybody would be to give restaurateurs the flexibility to either become smoking or non-smoking venues, which, in turn, would create an option that would segregate smokers from non-smokers altogether. Time would tell whether a restaurateur made the right choice or not in whichever case, and the possibility to revert to the more popular call of the public would remain open by renewal of classification.

As matters stand for the time being, the legislation to have smoking and non-smoking sections in one restaurant is hardly an effective solution. The smoke is not going to decide to stop half a metre short of the non-smoking area. Restaurants are generally laid out as one dining room, large or small, and many architectural structures cannot be altered with partitioning. Increased air-conditioning may deplete the smoke fast, but it also makes the food being served get cold quicker. Obviously, we have got a problem.

From one extreme (smoking) to the other (non-smoking), we have to come up with something in the middle, to weigh in a proportion of balance between the outer scales.

It is an acceptable scientific and medical fact that smoking is detrimental to physical health. Then again, smoking is not the only culprit that is detrimental to physical health.

There are so many invisible toxic gasses in our everyday atmosphere that we are unaware of that blaming all on smoking is like a quick escape through the back door in case we become aware of other dangers we cannot cope with, let alone face.

Our body cells are not only attacked by free radicals, they are also subjected to the unease caused by other debilitating energy factors such as hatred, anger, intense worry, neurotic fear etc.

Pollution has many sources, facts, densities and sounds. Point-blank. The world in its entirety would come to a near standstill if everybody suddenly vied on health issues only, without taking the industries which give the mobility, comfort and leisure that people claim into consideration. What then? The world would begin from scratch, it would again get tired of finding worms in its apple and it would concoct pesticides to eliminate both the worm and the complaint. That sounds like a vicious circle, so let us move on.

If smokers are in the wrong, then they must be civilised and express empathy with non-smokers to prevent them from going in the wrong in other ways.

Non-smokers must likewise sympathise with the smokers' habit, trend, emotional or psychological need of pacifier of sorts. Both ways, we can discuss the issue for a suitable solution without coming up in arms.

The restaurants' section at the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association is monitoring developments in neighbouring countries and mainland Europe in this regard. MHRA is a member of Hotrec and reports are received regularly regarding the effect such an issue is having on business performance. Members will be kept informed of developments in order to ensure that they can evaluate and conduct their business in a professional manner in tandem with global practices.

Mr Cassar is MHRA vice-president and chairman of its restaurants' section