The Eastern Health Board appears to be approaching the problem of smoking in pubs from the wrong direction. Non-smokers, the board has suggested, should be allowed to have a special area of their own in public houses. Rather than cordon off non-smokers publicans should surely be asked to cordon off smokers. People who wish to avoid the well-documented hazards of passive smoking are not the ones to be put in a special zone away from everyone else. Smokers, it should be remembered, now represent a small minority of the population. If any group of people is to be placed inside a cordon sanitaire it is that which endangers its own health and the health of others. The latest survey from New Zealand which claims that the risk of stroke for passive smokers is increased by 82 per cent underscores this.
A survey held throughout the State by the Eastern Health Board has supplied evidence that most people want smoke pollution eliminated from pubs. Some 59 per cent of those surveyed supported the idea that sections of public houses be set aside for non-smokers. The idea of having a small room reserved instead for those wishing briefly to feed their addiction does not appear to have been put. Addiction is the key word in this context. There is little argument among scientists about the power of nicotine over the human body. Some rate its habit-forming characteristics to be on a par with heroin. There is, therefore, an undoubted case for the provision of treatment for nicotine addicts in the same way as there is for alcoholism.
The intolerance of former smokers to those who have failed to kick the habit is legendary and without a serious basis. A sense of superiority can result in a less than rational analysis. The fact that many smokers need help should not, however, deter the authorities from protecting the majority population. Inhaling smoke which emanates from the lungs of other people is a disgusting experience. The tobacco companies have managed in the past to portray the matter in a very different way. Vast sums of money were spent to convey the image of the smoker as a paragon of sophistication. This, fortunately, is no longer the case.
The isolation of smokers in theatres, cinemas and on public transport has been shown not only to have been in the interest of the health of non-smokers; it has also helped many people to end their dependence on the drug. Once a false symbol of style and glamour, smoking has, through isolation and condemnation, come to be seen as a dangerous and often fatal addiction. The case against a ban on smoking has been mainly economic. Publicans worry about a drop in trade but the survey appears to negate their argument. The State in the past has worried about loss of excise revenue but in the current economic climate this is no longer valid. It is time for the authorities to put the health of the public above other considerations.