You're reading: Experts: Partial ban on indoor smoking in public places is ineffective remedy

There is no safe level of exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke.

The haze of smoke that greets visitors to many Kyiv restaurants could soon clear a bit as authorities plan next year to introduce a new recommendation to encourage restaurants, cafes and bars to restrict smoking to closed-off rooms.

The move to clean up Kyiv’s restaurants – most of which currently allow smoking – has been championed by public health advocates and non-smokers.

But experts say that the measure falls short. Health officials say that only a complete ban on indoor smoking in public places can prevent the damage caused by inhaling second-hand smoke, a major cause of disease and premature death for non-smokers. The medical consensus is that there is no safe level of exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke.

Moreover, many nations that have adopted stiff indoor smoking bans have found them to be successful and popular, while not harming businesses such as restaurants and pubs. Smokers, in short, adjust to the restrictions and even smoke less – which polls show most of them want to do anyway.


Fresh air

The new recommendation for separate smoking rooms is entirely optional, said Oleksandr Brihinets, head of the permanent commission of the Kyiv City Council on cultural and tourist issues and one of the initiators of the project.

He suggested that no-smoking establishments use signs to advertise their policy, and said that they will be placed on an official list of tourist points. The owners of non-smoking places could also receive some benefits from the city authorities. For example, large neon signs would not be considered advertising, as they will be for other establishments starting next year, saving them thousands of hryvnias in payments to the authorities, Brihinets said. Other incentive are being considered.

In France smoking is totally banned in public places and this is excellent. French people are relaxed about this, even if they are smokers themselves.”

– Fabienne Labe, a 44-year-old French researcher

Moreover, an indoor smoking ban might benefit business by drawing clients who are turned off by damaging their health by going to restaurants and bars.

Viktoria Shipka, 20, who was sitting at Murakami restaurant near the Golden Gates this week, said she’d prefer smoke-free eating. She was in the restaurant’s non-smoking room, where smoke drifts in from smoking rooms which are not sealed off by doors. “They can [smoke] on the street, no problem, but even there – only at specially allocated places,” she added.

Fabienne Labe, a 44-year-old French researcher who was also in the restaurant, agreed that most people want smokers to puff away outside.

“In France smoking is totally banned in public places and this is excellent,” she said. “French people are relaxed about this, even if they are smokers themselves. It is unpleasant when somebody is smoking next to you, not to mention that you might come with kids.”

Healthier country

Most European Union citizens think the same way as Labe. According to research conducted by representatives of the European Commission, 70 percent of EU citizens support the ban on smoking in public places.

The Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom are among a number of countries to have banned smoking entirely in public places. The European Commission, is pushing for an EU-wide ban.

Fifty percent of visitors come [to cafes] to have a cigarette with a cup of coffee,” he said. “This is additional comfort.”

– Vadim Vysochin, head of the Shokoladnitsa cafe chain in Kyiv

Restrictions on smoking in Kyiv could also help Ukrainians live long. Currently, they are literally smoking themselves into early graves. An estimated one-third of adults smoke, and perhaps a majority of men.
Smoking-related diseases contribute to the country’s lamentable life expectancy, currently 61 for men and 73 for women.

Kostantyn Krasovsky, head of the tobacco control section of the Health Ministry’s Ukrainian Institute of Strategic Research, called the new recommendation a “half measure.”

“But, of course, this is definitely better than nothing,” he added. “There is a big need for clean spaces.”


Freedom of choice

The regulation has not gone down well with restaurant and bar owners, however.

Andriy Zadorozhny, the owner of Kozyrna Karta, the largest restaurant chain in Ukraine, said that some 60 percent of those that visit restaurants smoke. Vadim Vysochin, head of the Shokoladnitsa cafe chain in Kyiv, is worried about losing clients and not enticed by any potential benefits.

“Fifty percent of visitors come [to cafes] to have a cigarette with a cup of coffee,” he said. “This is additional comfort.”

Some clients agreed. Andriy Polischuk, a 34-year-old photographer sitting smoking in Cupidon pub, said he would go outside if the owners made it a rule, but it wouldn’t make him quit or light up less often.

Kyiv Post staff writer Irina Sandul can be reached at [email protected].