Campaign for tougher anti-smoking laws stepped up

The British Medical Association (BMA) has stepped up it's campaign for tougher anti-smoking laws with a blunt warning to the health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, that her current plans are a virtual death sentence for some bar staff.

The doctors have criticised proposals to delay a ban on smoking in pubs and clubs until 2008 and to provide a permanent exemption for drinks-only establishments that do not serve prepared food.

According to Vivienne Nathanson, the BMA's head of science and ethics, each year of delay condemns around 50 hospitality workers to die as a result of exposure to second-hand smoke while at work.

This she says is totally unacceptable and completely unnecessary.

Nathanson argues that the exemption for drinks-only bars was arbitrary, inequitable and not supported by the health evidence.

"Secondhand smoke kills", she says whether or not there are pies with the pints.

Her comments came as the BMA submitted its response to government plans to legislate for a partial smoking ban in England and Wales.

Health secretary Hewitt has continued to support a compromise plan devised before the general election by her predecessor, John Reid, in order to achieve a ban on smoking in most enclosed public places by 2007.

Reid believed there was not enough public support for an outright ban in pubs and clubs, fearing that Labour might suffer at the polls.

Although Hewitt has subtly altered the government's position by telling the doctors and other anti-smoking campaigners to do all they can to win over public opinion, whether she thinks they have done enough is unclear.

It is expected her intentions will be revealed after consultations on the legislation, and to coincide with the launch of a government campaign in September.

Previous campaigns have focused on the risks to children and teenagers, but it appears the forthcoming one will stress the effect of passive smoking on the health of adults.

The BMA is ready to accuse Hewitt of inconsistency if the smoking ban is not imposed without exemptions.

Dr Nathanson says doctors are passionate about the issue because they see the devastation secondhand smoke causes.

Apparently over 1,700 doctors have contacted their MPs calling on them to urge the government in Westminster to rethink its proposals.

Ireland, Scotland, Italy and New Zealand have recently introduced legislation to ban smoking in all enclosed workplaces, without delays or exemptions for the licensed trade.

The BMA says the majority of people support smoke-free policies, and is calling for the Welsh assembly to be given the powers it is seeking to impose tougher anti-smoking legislation in Wales.

In New York, Ireland and other cities and countries that have gone smoke-free, the policies have not harmed business, and are popular.

A Department of Health spokeswoman says the government's proposals would make the vast majority of workplaces smoke free, saving thousands of lives in England, reducing deaths from cancer, heart disease and other conditions that smoking causes.

She says public opinion was crucial to decisions and showed that the public were far less supportive of measures to make all bars and pubs smoke free.