Smoking ban leaves New Yorkers fuming
Published 06 August, 2008, 05:19
Despite tough anti-tobacco laws, almost one in five New Yorkers is a committed smoker. The pavements are littered with stubs and doorways are crammed with ostracised smokers huddled together for a nicotine hit.
The anti-smoking lobby continues to pile on the pressure, insisting that smoking is the number one preventable cause of death in the U.S.
Each year more than 400,000 Americans die of tobacco-related causes. Most smokers are well aware of the dangers. Still, many can’t resist the temptation to light up.
Sarah Perl, Head of Bureau of Tobacco Control, says: “A smoker’s right to smoke ends at another person’s right to breathe clean air”.
In spite of tough anti-smoking policies in New York, statistics show 17% of New Yorkers are smokers.
Nevertheless the city’s Bureau of Tobacco Control says the rules are not strict, but effective.
Perl says hitting smokers in the pocket is part of the campaign: "a higher price of cigarettes is going to affect people in terms of not being able to afford them, which is a good thing.
“We have a ban on indoor smoking in work places, we also do a hard-hitting campaign on TV and radio and the Internet to remind smokers what will happen to them if they continue to smoke,” Perl said.
Aspiring New York singer, Erin McHugh, quit two years ago after stricter bans were imposed. He’s been a smoker for 10 years.
“I think it stinks every time I’m around a smoker, or behind somebody who is smoking. I feel intruded upon,” McHugh said.
George Koodray, President of the Metropolitan Society Cigar Club, the oldest cigar-smoking club in America, says anti-tobacco laws are threatening basic freedoms in the U.S.
“There are some people who are addicted to gambling, alcohol, exercise, the sun, food. If we are going to start going down that road and dictating ideal behaviours, I think we are going to have a very different country from that which we would like to have,” Koodray said.
Despite a range of policies aimed at deterring smokers, more than 1 million American teens still take up smoking every year.
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