| South China Morning Post, Hong Kong May 22, 2012 |
Simple way to curb law breakers
I refer to the letter by Leigh-Anne Wong (“Bar staff have ashtrays for smokers”, May 17).
The solution to the ongoing lack of compliance of smoking in bars is surprisingly simple. Place the legal onus on the owner/manager, not on the individual smoker.
As the legislation stands, bar owners have no interest in making sure their premises are smoke-free, and some even plant look-outs to alert the establishment if tobacco control officers are seen nearby, so they could warn their customers to put out their cigarettes. But if owners feared losing their licence, the law would become enforced overnight.
Current enforcement of smoke-free restaurants and bars is particularly difficult. Legco could change this at the stroke of a pen.
Dr Judith Mackay, senior adviser, World Lung Foundation
Prof . J u d i t h L o n g s t a f f M a c k a y , O B E , S B S , J P
MBChB, FRCP (Edin), FRCP (Lon)
Senior Advisor
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