To Be Banned
Polish Government To Limit Smoking In Poland
Classified Polnews
Warsaw, Poland 11 January 2010 A smoking ban will likely be legislated in Poland this year with the Polish Government speeding up work on an anti-nicotine act.
If accepted, smoking will be illegal in public areas in Poland including restaurants, pubs and clubs, train stations, bus stops and taxi ranks. At work, smokers can light up in a smoking room, but employers have no obligation to supply one. Cigarette display shelves in sales points will also disappear.
"No buts," said Polish oncologist Professor Jacek Jassem, author of the bill. "No tables for smokers or separate areas. It just doesn't work; the smoke floats around, poisoning other people in other areas. We just want a simple rule: no smoking means no smoking - and that's that".
But there are as yet no restrictions on smoking in your car, on your balcony or on your apartment block's staircase.
The bill, written some three years ago has been accepted by both majority parties PiS, for whom non-smoking laws is a part of their party line, and governing party PO, the last to take the bill on board, and has the chance of being passed through both houses of parliament quickly.
The bill's great attribute is that it is only two pages long and that it isn't dissimilar to the various similar laws introduced in other European Union nations.
In the EU, Ireland was the first to introduce a complete smoking ban, followed by Malta, Norway and Italy. The non-smoking laws in this countries have 90 per cent of public support. Partial non-smoking rules were also brought into Great Britain, France, Belgium, Holland and Germany.
The bill, while generally supported in the polls by most Poles, including many smokers, has been quite controversial, with the mastermind behind it receiving many vulgar letters from citizens at large, but also from other professionals, including journalists and people from scientific and cultural spheres.
Among public figures who approve the bill are recently deceased prof. Zbigniew Religa, who died of lung cancer, the current health minister Ewa Kopacz, who recently quit smoking, and parliamentarian Tadeusz Cymańskiego, who is also quitting.
Though, while seemingly simple, great debate surrounds the proposed law. It has been changed numerous times, and at various stages proposed that the ban be extended to private vehicles but not to smoking areas in restaurants.
By Victoria Ziarkowski
Freelance Writer
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