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12 May 2005 - BMA Says Smoking Ban Does Not
Go Far Enough
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The British Medical Council (BMA) have published a survey
concluding that the proposed Governments' partial smoking ban for England and
Wales "does not go far enough".
The survey highlighted several areas where the partial smoking
ban appeared to be flawed such as the following:
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It found there were regional differences in the number of
establishments affected with many more non-food pubs which would be exempt from
the ban in northern England.
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Of the 29 councils surveyed, 13, mainly in the North of England,
non-food pubs exceeded Government figures of only 10 to 30%.
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Highest figures were in Leeds, where it was estimated that 88%
were non-food pubs.
In the light of this survey, the BMA, representing three
quarters of the country's Doctors, wants the Government to look at countries
such as Ireland and Norway, who have successfully banned smoking in all pubs and
restaurants, as the partial ban proposed could be unworkable.
Mr. Ian Foulkes, Director of Policy at the Chartered Institute
of Environmental Health said:
"The current proposals would still leave those at greatest
risk, such as bar workers, unprotected from the smoking ban.
"We believe that the only method of protecting workers in
indoor environments from the effects of tobacco is for all workplaces to be
smoke-free."
"It is also our view that the government's proposals will be
totally unenforceable."
Article by Alexandra Johnston
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