Doctors urge public smoking ban (UK)

The Royal College of Physicians and 17 other medical colleges have called for a ban on smoking in public places.

In a letter to The Times, they warned there was now compelling evidence about the dangers of passive smoking.

They argued the system of voluntary self-regulation in bars and restaurants had failed, and called for legislation.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3235148.stm
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Britain is looking better and better to me.

It will probably pass after they amend to allow smoking in most bars. I will be so glad when it passes. I wish it would pass for the bars as well since I cannot go anywhere that allows smoking because of my allergies.

Yeah, I'm a smoker - a nice, polite, never light up without asking, don't even smoke in my own home when non-smokers are there, stand and shiver outside rather than offend one person inside, type person.

So I suppose it's natural that I can go all libertarian about this, but the anti-smoking stuff is really starting to bug me. I understand and agree that when it happens in a place where passive smoke can be a problem - YES. But why, tell me why, when a public restaurant/bar has a separate room, with separate ventilation system, we scum-of-the-earth can't light up? That's what happened in NY and restaurant/bar owners have taken a real hit on it. Besides forcing smokers outside (sidewalks are now cluttering the sidewalk and forcing pedestrians to navigate through clouds of smoke) the neighbors ain't too happy 'bout it neither.

Recently, I was a huge restaurant, with many rooms, all of which are completely smoke free. They have two bars - one smoke free, the other for us dregs-of-society. So I go there for my after-dinner smoke and this guy asks me to put it out. He had the whole freakin' place to avoid it but he plops into my tiny space.

Yeah, I'll quit. But until I do - and, hell even AFTER I do - I'm gonna think that this kinds stuff sucks.

rant over

eileen from OH

Why can't you have a respectable addiction like booze or drugs or child molestation.

"Having a smoking section in a restaurant is like having a urinating section in a swimming pool."
I thought that kinda summed it up.

Second-hand smoke is /really/ bad for people who work in spots like bars, where they can be there for hours.

I smoke in two places, for the most part-outside and in my car. I don't smoke in my own house, because I don't want to smell it in my towels and linens, also to keep me from smoking as much as I might otherwise. I occasionally go to a restaurant that allows it and smoke there. Michigan is looking to ban all smoking in restaurants and bars, too. I think that's nuts. Let the owners and the public decide. There are plenty of restaurants, particuarly "family" restaurants, that are completely non smoking.

still too much public opposition.

I am sick of the hipocracy. If smoking is sooooo bad, ban the products. Quit suckling at the tit of the angel of smoking death, if that is what it is. End the tax income and the lawsuit income and just outright ban it!

Oh, I forgot, nobody REALLY wants to get rid of an income source, they just want to bitch and moan about the children while lining their pockets with the money these products produce.

Hipocracy at it's finest.

Might as well show you lot where the government stands on this.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/smoking/Story/0,2763,1093121,00.html

The government yesterday slapped down calls for a complete ban on smoking in public places despite a powerful alliance of medical experts making the plea.

On the day before the Queen's speech, the leaders of all 18 royal colleges of medicine called for legislation to eliminate the 1,000 deaths a year caused by passive smoking. But the public health minister, Melanie Johnson, swiftly ruled out the idea of going any further than the current voluntary system.

While admitting that "smoke-free places are the ideal", she argued that a universal ban could not be justified while progress was being made on a voluntary basis and before the idea won wholesale public approval.

"The ban idea is still premature, because actually we do need to take people with us, there is a great deal more to be done by way of public persuasion and education and there would be problems, if we had a ban, with enforcement," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "If you have people deciding to light up in certain places, you cannot have a policeman standing at their shoulder all the time".