EDITORIAL: Ban on smoking in public: It’s time to get serious

It is easy to dismiss smokers as people who should simply be ignored since they are self-destructive, but the matter is not as simple as that. The health of a non-smoker seated next to a person who is smoking is endangered too.

The non-smoker is exposed to what is referred to a second-hand smoke. Research findings in the United States of America show that passive smoking can increase a non-smoker’s risk of getting lung cancer by 25 per cent. It may also raise the risk of cancer of the voice box and upper throat. Other health problems that second-hand smoke can cause include heart disease, stroke and breathing problems.

It is estimated that over 12,000 people in the UK die of lung cancer, heart disease and stroke every year. While data on the effect of second-hand smoke on Tanzanians may not be readily available, it would be foolhardy for the authorities to ignore evidence from other countries.

It is on account of this that, on July 1, 2003, the government made public smoking became a crime in Tanzania punishable by a jail term and a fine of Sh50,000.

It is a great shame that some 12 years down the line, people continue to smoke just about everywhere--bus stands, bars, parks, you name it. Indeed, many smokers take offence and may even insult anyone who reminds them that it is wrong to blow smoke in other people’s faces.

The government is to be commended for coming up with a law against smoking in public, but little effort appears to have gone into enforcing it.

Mercifully, no one lights up in a public office today as some of us would prior to the 2003 ban, but passive smokers continue to suffer silently in public places. This must stop.SOURCE: THE CITIZEN