Smoking in public places
By Editor
Friday May 30, 2008 [04:00]
There is no doubt about the damage that smoking does. And we also think that a lot of people who are not smokers would actually prefer to be in an environment where there is no smoking taking place. There is abundant evidence that breathing in other people’s tobacco smoke carries serious health risks, especially for children or those who are chronically exposed, such as at the workplace.
We therefore urge all Zambians to support last month’s Statutory Instrument that was initiated by local government minister, Sylvia Masebo, to ban smoking in public places because it would safeguard the public and encourage more smokers to quit.
Only smoke-free buildings and public places truly protect non-smokers from the hazards of breathing in other people’s tobacco smoke.
Non-smokers are exposed to second-hand smoke – involuntary smoking – that puts people at increased risk of death from lung cancer, heart disease and other illnesses.
Moreover, there is no risk-free level of exposure to someone else’s drifting smoke. Even the issue of the rights of the smoker raised by Zambia Medical Association president Dr Swebby Macha needs to be treated with a lot of care because designated places for smoking still enable smoke to escape from there into the lungs of non-smokers. And what rights do smokers really have when it comes to smoking in public places? Rights are exercisable only up to a point where your acts do not affect your neighbour. Immediately your smoke affects other people, you cannot claim to have a right to smoking.
We should also be especially concerned about young children who can’t escape their parents’ addiction in search of cleaner air. We should think about the plight of children in their smoking parents’ homes where the public smoking ban does not reach. Those children are at increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome, lung infections such as pneumonia, ear infections and more severe asthma.
Exposure to second-hand smoke remains an alarming public health hazard and Masebo should be commended for attempting to address it, to put an end to it.
Masebo deserves credit for realising that non-smokers need protection through the restriction of smoking in public places. Smokers should also not be allowed to puff around children even in their own homes. Children need protection everywhere.
We therefore urge all Zambians to support this ban because without their support, it would be impossible for it to be effective. And as Zambia Consumer Association executive secretary Muyunda Ililonga has warned, this Statutory Instrument may be as ineffective as many similar others before it that attempted to deal with other nuisances like urinating, spitting, littering and so on and so forth in public places. These are very difficult to enforce.
It is not possible to have police officers going round enforcing anti-smoking bans. It will be expensive to undertake such patrols. And how many policemen do we have anyway?
This being the case, this ban will only be effective if the public support it and enforce it on behalf of the state and indeed on their own behalf. The government has done its part. What remains is for us the citizens of this country to do our part.
There is no longer a scientific controversy that second-hand smoke is a killer. And therefore, there is no reason for us to take half measures to restrict smoking. We should go all the way and stop this nuisance that is killing our people directly and indirectly.
Separating smokers from non-smokers, cleaning the air and ventilation systems don’t eliminate exposure to second-hand smoke. What is needed are comprehensive smoking bans. Public smoking restrictions not only reduce second-hand smoke but discourage active smoking in the nation.
Smoking is a serious health hazard that should not be played around with. If one is in doubt, we advise them to go and talk to our good friend Mr Michael Sata, who for a number of years, we had problems restraining from smoking in our offices whenever he visited us. It was not easy to grab cigarettes from the lips of a senior citizen and prominent politician like Mr Sata.
Second-hand smoke can act on the arteries so quickly that even brief exposure to someone else’s smoke can endanger people who are at high risk of heart disease. And for this reason, we advise those who smoke never to smoke around a sick relative.
Living with a smoker increases a non-smoker’s risk of lung cancer and heart disease by a very high factor – some say even up to 30 per cent.
There isn’t proof that second-hand smoke causes breast cancer, but the evidence is suggestive.
We should therefore treat direct smoking and second-hand smoke as a toxic air pollutant.
And for these reasons, it is easy to understand why Masebo, when announcing the banning of smoking in public places said, “…prohibition of smoking in public places has had to be given special attention due to its hazardous nature to non-smokers who are forced to be passive smokers and this affects their health although they do not smoke.”
This Statutory Instrument is not an end in itself – it is just a means. If we support it and give it effect, it will help us protect ourselves from all these dangers. It may also enable us to discourage others from committing suicide through smoking. Let us give it spirited support.
Labels: SMOKING BAN, ZACA
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ZACA urges enforcement of new anti-smoking law
By Zumani Katasefa and Mwila Chansa
Friday May 30, 2008 [04:00]
GOVERNMENT should ensure that the new law that prohibits smoking in public does not join a queue of other laws that are not effectively enforced, Zambia Consumer Association (ZACA) executive secretary Muyunda Ililonga has urged. And Zambia Medical Association (ZMA) president Dr Swebby Macha said smoking areas should be designated to avoid infringing on the rights of smokers. Commenting on the new law that prohibits smoking in public, Ililonga said the move was progressive and hoped that it would help save people's lives from the harmful tobacco.
"As ZACA we welcome the law. It is going to help save lives of those who have chosen to commit suicide by smoking in public as well as non-smokers who are indirectly affected by the tobacco smoke," he said.
Ililonga said Zambia had very good laws on paper but that they lacked enforcement.
"This is a big step ahead, but the problem that we have in Zambia is that we have so many good laws which are not enforced. What we need now is a system of policing these laws," Ililonga said.
And Dr Macha said while the ZMA welcomed the ban on smoking in public places, it was important for smoking areas to be designated so that the rights of smokers were not infringed.
Dr Macha said smoking in public places infringed on the rights of non-smokers as they unwillingly inhaled smoke by virtue of being next to smokers.
He said the government's decision was a milestone in protecting non-smokers from second-hand or passive smoking in line with the World Health Organisation (WHO) directive last year for all countries that had not taken action on indoor smoking to do so.
"The dangers of passive smoking, especially in enclosed places, are already known. Cigarettes contain nicotine which is one of the toxins implicated in causing lung cancer, repeated chest infections, worsened asthma attacks, heart attacks, and even strokes," said Dr Macha.
He further said cigarettes were also linked to cancers such as cervical and in reduced fertility for both men and women.
Dr Macha added that cigarettes were also linked to low birth weight babies and congenital anomalies such as pre-mature labour and bleeding in late pregnancy.
Dr Macha said there was need for more public education on the dangers of smoking and that professional organisations such as ZMA and the media could spearhead the awareness.
On Wednesday, local government minister Sylvia Masebo signed a Statutory Instrument (SI) prohibiting smoking in public places.
Masebo said she was compelled to sign the SI, dated April 9, 2008, which has since been gazetted, due to continued smoking in public by persons with no regard for the comfort of others.
Masebo warned that anyone in contravention of the regulation would be liable upon conviction to a fine not exceeding K4,000,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or both.
Labels: SMOKING BAN, ZACA
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Masebo outlaws smoking in public
By Maluba Jere
Thursday May 29, 2008 [04:00]
LOCAL government minister Sylvia Masebo has signed a Statutory Instrument (SI) prohibiting smoking in public places. Speaking at a press briefing yesterday, Masebo said she was compelled to sign the SI, dated April 9, 2008 which has since been gazetted, due to continued smoking in public by persons with no regard for the comfort of others.
Masebo warned that anyone in contravention of the regulation would be liable upon conviction to a fine not exceeding 2,500 penalty units or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or both.
"You do recall that last year on 29th June 2007, I did issue Statutory Instrument number 44 of 2007, the local government (Street vending and Nuisances) Amendment regulations, 2007 as an effort to curb the numerous nuisances and to provide for stiffer penalty units for the would-be offenders," she said.
"But prohibition of smoking in public places has had to be given special attention due to its harzadous nature to non-smokers who are forced to be passive smokers and this affects their health although they do not smoke," she said.
Masebo urged Zambians to be responsible citizens by making the 'Make Zambia Clean Campaign' a wider concept that not only emanates from the government but also starts with personal hygiene of individuals, which includes stopping smoking in public places.
"Through this Statutory Instrument, all the public places under the jurisdiction of a council to which the public has access, these are now prohibited for smoking," she said.
Masebo also said the government through her ministry last year released K15.5 billion to pay retirees in 54 district councils and five municipalities in phase one of the programme.
She explained that for the second phase, the government had already released over K4 billion for paying retirees in nine municipalities.
Masebo urged principal officers of the municipalities to ensure that the funds benefited the intended persons.
"It is important that only those former employees on the lists verified by the ministry should be paid from these funds," she said.
"The ministry will not condone any mismanagement of these funds. I take this opportunity to caution chief executive officers to avoid any misapplication of these funds. As government we will ensure that the law takes its course on any erring officials."
She further urged the councils to adhere to directives issued to them and not retrench any employee unless it had money to immediately pay off the affected employees.
Masebo warned that failure to follow the directives would leave her with no option but invoke the provisions of the law to ensure that councils adhere to lawful instructions.
"For salary arrears and other outstanding debts, let me remind the councils that these should be met from their own local resources," said Masebo.
"If a council has outstanding salary arrears, it must not even think of increasing the salaries and wages of its workers and hope that government will pay. Ensure you clear the outstanding salary arrears before making any demands for any increments."
Labels: SMOKING BAN, SYLVIA MASEBO
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