The Cabinet on Thursday last week approved a set of proposed amendments to the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (菸害防制法) that might be among the most important legal measures ever taken to protect the health of Taiwanese.
Premier William Lai (賴清德) said that the Cabinet referred to the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control when formulating the proposed amendments, but is that true?
Tobacco manufacturers keep finding new ways to market their products, such as menthol or fruit-flavored cigarettes, to teenagers. The WHO calls for strict prohibition of flavored cigarettes.
The view from Taipei might be that the nation has done a good job of tobacco prevention, but international tobacco companies continue to make big profits in Taiwan, where more than half the population is exposed to the harmful effects of second-hand smoke.
Most Taiwanese are worried about outdoor air pollution, but most people spend 18 hours or more indoors every day, so indoor air quality is even more crucial.
Smoking causes serious air pollution, exposing people to 100 times as much PM2.5 — fine particulate matter measuring 2.5 micrometers or smaller — as there would be near a busy main road, and smoking in nightclubs can push the PM2.5 concentration up to 10 times the level that sets off a “purple” warning, meaning “very unhealthy.”
To make a living and support their families, tens of thousands of nighttime workers across the nation work in smoke-filled environments that seriously damage their health. Allowing this situation to continue shows disdain for their right to work in a healthy environment.
Tobacco companies, and a few nightclub owners instigated by the same firms, vociferously oppose a smoking ban in pubs, bars and nightclubs, saying it would negatively affect their business.
However, almost all research done in nations where there is an outright ban on smoking in pubs, bars and nightclubs show that after smoking was banned in such places, their business actually improved.
Banning smoking in leisure venues are supported not only by 90 percent of non-smokers, but also by 70 percent of smokers, because even smokers do not want to be exposed to second-hand smoke for long periods.
Smoking rooms are allowed in the Cabinet’s proposed amendments, which are more lenient than the WHO’s recommendation of banning smoking entirely, with no smoking rooms allowed.
Smoking rooms allow the smoke to diffuse through the air, making it difficult to block second-hand smoke. It is just as useless as separating a swimming pool into peeing and non-peeing areas.
Hopefully, when legislators consider the proposed amendments, they will impose a complete ban on smoking in public spaces with no provision of smoking rooms as nearly 100 other nations have already done.
Almost all advanced nations prohibit smoking in pubs, bars and nightclubs. Research shows that when tourists from Europe and the US visit nations where smoking is not prohibited at nighttime venues, such as Taiwan, many of them refuse to spend their money in smoke-filled nightclubs, because they are accustomed to a smoke-free environment.
When smoking is banned in pubs and bars, smokers need only to step outside to smoke, while about 80 percent of non-smokers will be more likely to visit and spend their money there. Therefore, businesses would benefit from a complete smoking ban.
Many young Taiwanese go to pubs, bars, nightclubs and dance halls where there is no ban on smoking. In effect, they are hanging out in gas chambers.
Chiou Shu-ti (邱淑媞), who served as director-general of the Health Promotion Administration for seven years under former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), promoted banning smoking outdoors, such as at national parks and city parks, which international tobacco firms do not care about at all. Considering that smoking outdoors does not pose a threat to other people’s health, such bans only give pro-smoking groups an excuse to say that the government is too meddlesome.
The policy also wastes precious tobacco prevention funds on ineffective outdoor smoking bans, while allowing nighttime workers to work in second-hand smoke-filled gas chambers.
The rate of smoking among Taiwanese men aged from 18 to 41 has climbed to more than 40 percent. Taiwanese smokers also smoke the highest number of cigarettes among all Asian smokers and they are among the world’s top smokers.
Due to wrong tobacco prevention policies, Taiwan’s total annual consumption of tobacco products remained at a shocking 1.8 billion packs during the eight years of the Ma administration, with hardly any change in the NT$200 billion (US$6.7 billion) spent — or wasted — each year on tobacco products, which goes straight into the pockets of international tobacco companies, and that is not counting smuggled cigarettes.
Hopefully, lawmakers will support the Cabinet’s proposed amendments, so that Taiwan can be relieved from the scourge of tobacco products that cause death, sickness and a huge waste of money.
If the nation can do that, other nations and the WHO would see Taiwan in a new light.
Wayne Gao is an assistant research fellow at a Taipei Medical University master program on global health and development.
Translated by Julian Clegg
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