More Non-smoking Areas in Restaurants Demanded in HK

The Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health (COSH) has released its findings of a new opinion survey which show that a majority of people favor smoke- free eating places in Hong Kong.

A total of 1,078 respondents were interviewed in the survey, which is a follow-up of a similar survey conducted in 1995. Professor T.H. Lam from the Department of Community Medicine of the University of Hong Kong, who headed the research team, said that compared with the previous survey, stronger support for smoke- free restaurants was found in the latest survey.

Ninety percent of those interviewed supported the proposal that half the seats in all restaurants should be designated as non- smoking areas and more than two-thirds supported all seats being non-smoking.

The survey shows that prevalence of exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) in restaurants has also remained high. About 69 percent of the respondents admitted that they were often or sometimes exposed to passive smoking.

A majority, about 64 percent of the respondents, believed that the current legislation was insufficient and ineffective in protecting people from passive smoking. Most agreed that the legislation should be expanded to cover more restaurants and increase the size of non-smoking areas.

"The survey indicates that most people would choose restaurants with non-smoking areas, especially when accompanied by children, and most would choose to eat in non-smoking areas," T.H. Lam said.

Professor A.J. Hedley chairman of COSH, said: "This new report makes it clear beyond any doubt that the public now recognizes that tobacco smoke in the form of ETS is an extremely poisonous mixture of chemical compounds."

The council has called for a much improved strategic plan to prevent passive smoking in the home, the workplace, restaurants and bars, and other public places and transportation.

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