No Smoking in Arab World
Published on October 21, 2009 1:50 PM
Smoking was prohibited in public places by Syria's president. President Bashar Assad's decision, which will go into effect in six months, bans smoking in restaurants, cafes, cinemas, theaters, schools, official occupations and on public transport. And those who will violate the new anti-tobacco legislation will be fined 2,000 Syrian pounds, about $45.
In 1996 Syria also tried to restrict smoking by prohibiting smoking in government institutions, hospitals and at the airport and also banned the sale of tobacco to those under the age of 18. But the ban was often violated and not strongly enforced.
But this time the anti-smoking legislation is a much more severe measure showing Syria's desire to join other Arab countries struggling to control smoking with bans and anti-smoking campaigns.
In Arab world such kind of laws are not so easy to be urged, and there cigarette smoke is everywhere because people light up in offices, universities, taxis and even hospitals and where smoking has long been a social urgent and a ceremony of passage for young men.
The new legislation also banned smoking water pipes, except in well-ventilated and designated areas. Also banned tobacco advertising and the sale and import of sweets and toys modeled after tobacco products.
Egypt, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates and most recently Iraq have imposed similar restrictions on smoking, but the bans differ in purpose and enforcement.
Last year, Egypt, one of the top 15 smoking countries in the world, initiated a campaign of visual warnings about tobacco's dangers, including a need that cigarette labels carry images of the effects of smoking.
Earlier this year even Turkey banned indoor smoking too. After this new ban a man shoot a restaurant owner to death after being asked to put out his cigarette.
Scientists concluded that it is very hard to obliged smokers to quit or to not smoke in special places in states where smoking was permitted everywhere. However this step should be done by all countries if they want to have healthy inhabitants.
