Ireland will mark the first anniversary of a pioneering ban on smoking tomorrow, the success of which has inspired similar moves elsewhere.
Here is a factbox on some countries that have banned smoking in some form.
2004
March - Ireland imposes a nationwide ban on smoking in all workplaces, including pubs, bars and restaurants.
May - India bans smoking in public places, tobacco advertising in media and sales to minors, after statistics showed smoking killed 2,200 people in India a day.
June - Norway extends a ban on workplace smoking to bars and restaurants.
Oct - Hong Kong announces plans to extend a ban on smoking to bars, restaurants and offices.
Malta, bans smoking in all public places larger than 60 square metres. This will be extended to all public places irrespective of size from April 1, 2005.
Nov - Scotland announces plans to ban smoking in enclosed public spaces by early 2006. The British government announces plans for a public smoking ban across England and Wales from 2006. The ban will cover all enclosed public places and workplaces, restaurants, and pubs and bars serving food.
Nov - Russia’s upper house of parliament approves a bill to restrict smoking in public places. The ban covers public transport and the workplace, and prevents the sale of tobacco in health, sports and cultural centres or near schools.
Dec - New Zealand extends a 1990 ban on smoking in offices, shops and public buildings to pubs, clubs, restaurants, and school grounds.
Dec - The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan bans smoking in public and prohibits tobacco sales, the first country in the world to do so.
2005:
Jan - Italy bans smoking in enclosed public spaces.
Feb - Cuba bans smoking in offices, stores, theatres, buses and taxis, schools, sports facilities and air-conditioned public areas.
March - Parliament in Bangladesh passes a law implementing a smoking ban in places such as schools, offices, libraries, hospitals and airports. It also prohibits advertisement of tobacco products in cinemas, newspapers or on television.
Toronto has a ban on smoking in clubs and bars. However some places are a little lax on the policy. I was at Fluid on Thursday night and there was plenty of people smoking cigarettes andchronic!
Another chapter in the big play: “Much Ado About Nothing”
If one does not like smoke one should not go to a bar. How will the bar of the future look? Only milk, fruit-juice and low fat snacks will be served? LOL.
What are they going to ban next? Alcohol? I think the US had that already. I hope not the whole of Europe will follow that trend…
Personally I don’t smoke cigarettes, only cigars now and then. If there’s too much smoke I try to move, if the whole place is full of it, I leave.
Nobody is forced to stay in a place where people smoke.
But then, nobody is forced to smoke either.
I think it is safe to say that every argument used by one side can be used by the other side too, and that discussing matters such as these leads nowhere - which makes you wonder on what premise such laws are based.
Of course in our times it is based on “scientific facts”. (Science being mans last great authority)
…are forced labourers or slaves? Nobody is forced to be a Barman/woman.
I’m only talking about bars. Restaurants and “other public places” (like offices) are a different category where restriction on smoking do make sense to me.
Haven’t been to Fluid in a while, but alot of clubs in the main downtown club district (Richmond & Peter St.) do the samething, ie. Budo, This is London, etc; but at least its at a much lower incidence. I am glad that there is a law against it, now I can come home without wreacking like smoke.
i personally think smoking should be banned everywhere. it smells like shit and gives me a headache whenever I’m close to a smoker. I dont know how people do that shit… uhguhgu
My favorite argument…here’s the thing about the “alcohol is bad for you too” stance. No one has ever been harmed by second hand alcohol ingestion. People argue the right to smoke, but that right imposes on my right to clean air and as we all know “you’re rights end where my nose begins.” I can’t wait until it’s banned in my city.
All I say is that there should be places where you can smoke and there should be places where it’s not allowed to smoke.
One who wants to smoke goes to one bar - the one who can’t take it goes to the other. I could imagine to go to both.
Places where everybody has to go (public buildings, offices) smoking should be banned.
I think to pass a law against smoking in ANY bar goes too far, but won’t work anyhow. Because the law only reaches the “brave new world” part of the US not the areas where poorer people live, neither typical “nightlife spots”.
When I visited the US the first time I was surprised that in certain areas you can even smoke weed on the street. Why? because nobody to stop you ever shows up (police).
So if you can’t even stop that there will always be places where tobacco can be consumed, too.
Here it’s not yet forbidden to smoke in bars, but tobacco is getting so much expensive year after year that you really need to be intoxicate to buy it. My feeling is that cigarettes are less and less popular among 15-25 yo people.
maybe where you live its less popular, but here in a Los Angeles suburb, I would not be surprised if over 60% of the kids smoke weed, or if 50% or over smoke ciggerretes. It seems like its the cool thing around here, i dont know why. Yellow teeth and smelly breath will be the new “bling bling”