Blanket prohibitions against smoking on university campuses have increased the risks of second-hand smoke, student groups said on Thursday, calling for changes to designate legal spaces for smoking.
A study of 30 universities and colleges that totally banned smoking on campus following the legislature’s passage of amendments to the Tobacco Hazards Control Act (菸害防制法) in 2023 showed that areas frequented by smokers have become more widespread, the groups told a news conference in Taipei.
Smoking in nearly 70 percent of the schools surveyed has spread around campuses’ periphery, National Chung Cheng University student Tsai Ching-hung (蔡璟鴻) said.
Photo copied by Tsai Shu-yuan, Taipei Times
The amount and diffusion of cigarette litter have surged since schools abolished designated smoking areas and removed ashtrays from campus grounds, he said.
More students and local residents reported being affected by second-hand smoke or cigarette litter than ever because the bans drove tobacco users to smoke in secluded locations, he said.
In contrast, National Chengchi University — which passed regulations allowing smoking in designated areas the same year — reported a reduction in second-hand smoke and improved cleanliness, said Ho Chieh-en (何傑恩), an alumnus and former student government member at the university.
Legislators amended the law without asking the opinion of college students who would be most affected by policy changes, resulting in counterproductive laws, he said.
The government’s anti-tobacco campaign stigmatized smokers and sowed discord in society, said Cheng Yu-fang (鄭羽芳), a student at National Taiwan University’s Graduate Institute of Building and Planning.
A sampling of social media frequented by college students revealed instances of hate speech against smokers, including posts claiming smokers “do not deserve rights” or calling them “human garbage that must be cleansed,” she said.
Lawmakers should rectify the mistakes made in the amendments by allowing student governments to reinstate smoking zones, she said.
Health authorities should change the tone of their anti-tobacco messaging to avoid inciting hostility toward the people their policies were supposed to help, Cheng said.
The Taiwan Youth Association for Democracy voiced doubts about the proposed amendment at the time, but the legislature turned a deaf ear, organization’s director Alice Yang (楊姿潁) said.
Lawmakers ignored differences in campus geography and truncated the public opinion solicitation process, she said.
The government’s inflexibility and failure to adapt policy to reality were to blame for the persistence of smoking-related problems, Yang added.
Better Together for NextGen Taiwan deputy chairman Lin Ssu-kai (林思愷) said the law went against the principle of university autonomy and its top-down approach to regulations.
University students and faculty should be included in major policy decisions that affect their lives, he added.
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