Roll on smoking ban

By Patricia Cambpell

Smoking bans are becoming more and more acceptable. Gone are the days that one had to wade through smoke filled train carriages or sit on a plane journey for hours breathing others cigarette smoke. I was living in London at the time of the Kings Cross fire, which claimed the lives of many people who were making their way to and from the trains at Kings Cross Station.

An enquiry into the cause of the fire established that a lit cigarette butt had found its way under an escalator and rapidly caused a massive inferno. The Kings Cross fire happened in an era when smoking was acceptable in the subway and escalators. After the discovery that a cigarette butt had caused the massive fire and huge fatalities, smoking was banned everywhere in the subways. This was implemented with no objections and became the acceptable norm very quickly. Not many would remember the days when smoking zones existed in the subways.

There are few who will recall the days that designated smoking areas existed on public transport, in waiting areas, hospitals, public buildings and in the workplace. Smoking bans become more commonplace as it emerges there is evidence suggesting passive smoking threatens the lives of others. It only makes sense that if something is life threatening and can be removed then it must be removed. A top cancer expert, Professor Patrick Johnston firmly believes that smoking bans are the way forward and that it would wipe out a third of all cancers. He called for a smoking ban in the North of Ireland. The Professor who leads a new multi-million pound Belfast City Hospital cancer centre made the point to a Belfast newspaper that “this is the largest cancer society in the world”. The Professor also paid tribute to the ‘superb job’ that Micheal Martin had achieved in introducing the smoking ban in the Republic and said “if a similar ban was imposed here that would help wipe out one third of all cancers in 10 to 12 years” How then, could anyone oppose a smoking ban when there is mounting evidence that passive smoking is damaging to our health and this evidence is being substantiated by a leading authority on cancer such as Professor Johnston?

There has been little opposition to the smoking ban in the Republic. I am a frequent visitor to the Republic and it is most encouraging to know that after socialising, the smell of cigarette smoke will not linger on my clothes and my lungs will not be subjected to the unwanted stale cigarette smoke, which used to fill every room in hotels, restaurants and bars. Roll on the smoking ban.

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