Ten years ago next Saturday (March 29th), Ireland became the first country in the world to introduce a workplace smoking ban. The move was positively received for the most part and the percentage of the population smoking has fallen from 29 per cent to 22 per cent over the past 10 years. However, anti-smoking campaigners believe more can be done to create an almost entirely smoke-free culture.
These campaigners – including the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI) and the Irish Cancer Society – welcome the Department of Health’s wide-ranging Tobacco Free Ireland document as a positive and far-reaching approach towards creating zero tolerance for smoking.
Dr Pat Doorley is the chairman of the RCPI’s policy group on tobacco. “The smoking ban has saved an estimated 3,400 lives over the 10 years and the Tobacco Free Ireland policy is very ambitious – but achievable – with its target to reduce smokers to 5 per cent by 2025,” he says.
“Taxation is the single most effective measure to decrease smoking as certain groups, such as young people and those from lower socio-economic groups, are price sensitive. These are also the smoking groups we need to target most. We need to tackle smuggling of cigarettes with more surveillance at ports and points of sale.”
The draft bill on plain packaging for cigarettes, which is currently going through the Dáil, is also widely welcomed.
“In countries like Australia, which is a world leader in Tobacco Free policy, many studies have found that smokers prefer coloured packs with bright attractive logos.
“Smokers also pay more attention to warnings on plain packaging and children will perceive the dangers of smoking more with plain packaging,” says Doorley.
Source: Sylvia Thompson, Irish Times, 25/03/14
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