International medical backing for anti-smoking laws

Leading doctors from eight countries have sung the praises of anti-smoking legislation in a report published by the British Medical Association's tobacco control resource centre this week.

"Making enclosed places smoke-free encourages some people to give up and others to reduce the number of cigarettes smoked, thereby reducing the risks of heart attack," BMA president Sir Charles George said in the report.

Sir Charles said the hazards of second-hand smoke were greater than previously thought.

Carolyn Dresler, the head of the International Agency for Research on Cancer Tobacco Control, said an independent panel of international scientists concluded that exposure to second-hand smoke increased the risk of lung cancer in non-smokers by 20 to 30 per cent. "This evidence demands that we take all necessary steps to eliminate people's exposure to second-hand smoke," she said.

Smoking regulations came into force in Malta last year. Entertainment establishments measuring over 60 square metres had to comply with smoking regulations since October whereas the smaller establishments have until this April to come in line. Establishments have to be non-smoking but can have a smoking room, which needs to comply with a number of technical specifications.

Scientist Sir Richard Doll said in the report that although the causal link between smoking and lung cancer was established in 1950, the tobacco industry spent decades arguing that results did not justify this conclusion. "Now tobacco companies are using the same techniques to undermine the conclusion that passive smoking causes fatal disease," he said.

The report said there was no reputable evidence that smoke-free laws harm the hospitality sector despite the myth that bar sales would fall by 30 per cent.

And although some said that smoke-free laws would be unenforceable, more than 95 per cent of premises in Ireland and New York were smoke-free. The report said it was a myth that voluntary action was enough because, despite voluntary agreements, fewer than one per cent of British pubs were smoke-free. It also said that non-smoking areas or ventilation could not remove the health risks of second-hand smoke.

"Many Canadian cities, provinces and territories are smoke-free but some allow ventilated smoking rooms. These don't protect against second-hand smoke; in one region, three quarters of these rooms leaked smoke into the rest of the premises. But when smoke-free measures are introduced, they work. Some smokers quit and the rest take their cigarettes outside - even in a Canadian winter," Canadian Medical Association president Albert Schumacher said.

Hans Kristian Bakke, the president of the Norwegian Medical Association, stressed that half measures such as designated smoking areas and ventilation cannot protect health. "These measures were simply not good enough. There is no reason for others to repeat this experiment," he said. Norway became smoke-free last June.

According to the chairman of the BMA's Scottish council, Peter Derry, smoke-filled rooms have taken their toll on the nation's health. "When Scotland goes smoke-free it will be a triumph for devolution," he said.

Scotland is expected to become smoke-free in spring 2006.

Despite its huge pub culture, Ireland went smoke-free last March. The Irish Medical Organisation's James Reilly said over 7,000 smokers gave up in the six months preceding the enforcement of the law and it encouraged many more smokers to quit.