SMOKING
is likely to be banned in the workplace under radical new proposals being
drawn up by the Government.
Staff would be able to sue
their employers if they are forced to breathe smoke while at their desk or
work station.
Smoking would be allowed
only in designated rooms or at outdoor workplaces, such as farms and construction
sites.
Exemptions would be made
for prisons, psychiatric hospitals which provide residential care and pubs,
restaurants and clubs, where smoking is regarded as part of the culture.
Under the Government's White
Paper on Smoking and Health, due to be published next month, these particular
work places would be encouraged to sign up to voluntary codes which promise
non-smoking areas and better ventilation for non-smokers and staff. Yesterday
Clive Bates, director of Action on Smoking and Health, said: 'If the Government
wants to stop smoking in the workplace, it's great news.
'Of course there are difficulties in workplaces which are also someone's home,
such as in nursing homes, or in pubs, where there is an element of consumer
choice.'
Department of Health sources
say smoking at work is a key target in the Government drive to reduce tobacco-related
deaths.
But Tessa Jowell, the Minister
for Public Health, is acutely sensitive to accusations of nannying and has
stopped short of an outright ban on smoking in all office buildings and public
places. She plans to put the new White Paper proposals out to consultation,
to allow businesses and smokers to comment on the changes.
Current health and safety
rules on smoking are vague. They say 'effective and suitable provision should
be made to ensure that every enclosed workplace is ventilated by a sufficient
quantity of fresh or purified air'.
The revised codes are likely
explicitly to ban smoking where people work in enclosed spaces, unless there
are exemptions such as in the case of restaurants.
'Enforced passive smoking
is a real invasion of civil liberties,' said Mr. Bates. 'But I don't think
they're going to go for a Californian-style ban on smoking in all restaurants.
It wouldn't be practical at the moment.'
The Government has also
backed away from raising the age at which youngsters can buy cigarettes from
16 to 18, nor will it be introducing an outright ban on tobacco advertising,
relying instead on voluntary agreements with retailers about displays.
A suggestion that will be
taken up, however, is to provide free nicotine gum and patches to the poorest
in society to help cut down on smoking.
A recent ICM survey found
54 per cent of people approve of smoking bans in all public places, 64 per
cent back them in restaurants and bars and 80 per cent in planes, buses and
trains.
Health Secretary Frank Dobson,
an ex-smoker, is fiercely determined to cut the 120,000 deaths a year caused
by tobacco consumption.
£129billion
bill for smokers' ill-health
From
IVOR KEY in New York
CIGARETTE
prices are expected to rocket after America's four biggest tobacco firms agreed
to pay £129billion to settle health claims.
The money will be used to
pay for the past, present and future treatment of smokers suffering from lung
cancer, emphysema and a host of other illnesses caused by tobacco.
But although it is the biggest
legal settlement ever, some anti-smoking advocates believe the industry is
getting away lightly. Under a similar Senate bill which was defeated last
year, the firms -Philip Morris, R J Reynolds Tobacco, Lorillard Tobacco and
Brown & Williamson - would have had to pay out over £300billion.
The four are responsible
for making the top brands of cigarettes in the U.S. including Marlborough,
Winston, Parliament, Lark, Camel, Virginia Slims and Merit.
The bonanza will be shared
by all but four of America's 50 states over the next 25 years. The others,
Minnesota, Florida, Mississippi and Texas, will get slight increases on the
£25billion for which they have already settled.
The settlement provides
the companies with no protection from the thousands of private lawsuits being
filed. But, ironically, their stocks have been rising on Wall Street in anticipation
of this deal because investors will now know exactly how much it is costing
them.
Under the settlement, manufacturers
will have to stop using outdoor billboards, adverts on buses and trains and
selling merchandise with brand name logos, such as cartoon characters like
Joe Camel. The brand names, however, will be allowed to sponsor one sporting
event each per year such as Philip Morris's Virginia Slims tennis tournament
and Winston's NASCAR motor races.
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