You're reading: Cigarette smoke haunts Kyiv’s bars, restaurants

Workers and patrons of Ukraine’s restaurants and bars face serious health risks because of indoor smoking.

A recent study by Media Law Institute titled “Kyiv Without Tobacco Smoke,” in partnership with the American-based Roswell Park Cancer Institute, has found that the separation between smoking and non-smoking zones in Kyiv’s dining establishments is ineffective, forcing diners in non-smoking zones to unwillingly inhale cigarette smoke.

According to legislation passed by the Kyiv City Council in 2008, each dining establishment in Kyiv must have equal-sized smoking and non-smoking zones.

Despite nominal compliance to this law, smoke inevitably wafts into the non-smoking areas, forcing non-smokers to breathe in nicotine and other toxic substances besides absorbing the smoke in their clothing and hair.

“Kyiv authorities don’t enforce control of the smoke problem because they have no official proof of how the smoke spreads within the space of a restaurant or bar.

That’s why we decided to tackle this question of air quality in a study,” said Taras Shevchenko, the head of the “Kyiv Without Tobacco Smoke” project and Media Law Institute’s director, at the press conference on Oct. 24.

The study, which was held in 40 Kyiv restaurants, demonstrated that the air pollution in both the smoking and non-smoking zones significantly exceeds the norms established by the World Health Organization. Only in restaurants which ban smoking completely does the air quality correspond
to global standards.

To measure the level of cigarette smoke, researchers used a special device called an aerosol monitor TSI SidePak, a medium-size blue box with a digital screen which can be inconspicuously hidden in a bag with a tube exposed to air. In roughly 30 minutes it can accurately determine the level of harmful particles floating in the air.

These minuscule particles can penetrate the lungs and bloodstream causing a series of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases which may be fatal, according to the study.

At particularly serious risk are the employees of restaurants and bars. Public health authorities say there is no safe level of exposure to second-hand smoke.

“More than five hours a day in a cafe filled with smoke may result in coughing, rapid heart beat, eye irritation, lung and heart disease, asthma attacks and potentially cancer,” says Otto Stoyka, the head doctor of Kyiv’s City Health Center. The final results of the study were confirmed by the Roswell Park Cancer Institute. More than 600,000 people die prematurely worldwide from second-hand smoke.

The solution is obvious: make public places, such as restaurants and workplaces, 100 percent smoke-free. “The only way to fully protect passive smokers is to prohibit smoking completely in Kyiv’s public spaces,” Shevchenko said. “We are working with the Kyiv Rada (City Council) on this.”

Some restaurants are taking the initiative. Pizzeria Vezuvio in Kyiv recently went smoke-free and found success. “Many of our clients are families with children, and we are concerned about them. Banning smoking was very well-received,” says Olena Zhydchenko, manager at Vezuvio.

Another incentive for going smoke-free indoors is the Euro 2012 football championships, which will bring tens of thousands of tourists to Ukraine in June.

“For foreigners coming to Ukraine, smoking laws speak about the standards of our country. In Europe and many other countries smoking in public places is banned, and we hope that Ukraine will follow the same standard,” Shevchenko said.

To encourage such developments, on Oct. 20, the Union of European Football Associations declared a ban on smoking in and around all host stadiums in Poland and Ukraine. Shevchenko hopes the prohibition will remain in place after the games.

Kyiv is lagging on this issue. Sumy has pioneered a smoking ban in public establishments, while similar proposas are under consideration in Donetsk and the Crimean peninsula.

Kyiv Post staff writer Mariya Manzhos can be reached at [email protected]