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Ban on smoking in public will push smokers indoors

DUBAI — The recent ban on smoking in public announced by Dubai Municipality may force people to smoke indoors, thereby, exposing non-smokers, especially children, to a greater risk of passive smoking, opine healthcare experts.

“Of course, giving up smoking totally is the best course of action,” suggests Dr Suresh Menon, Specialist Physician, Jebel Ali Hospital.

“In 1986, secondhand smoke was declared a health hazard in the US. Still the past 20 years have seen pitched battles over banning smoking indoors, despite the fact that the accumulated scientific evidence clearly documents increased risk of lung cancer, heart disease, asthma, and other deadly ills,” he explained.

Says Dr Menon, “Multiple international studies have shown that children of smokers have more breathing problems than children of non-smokers, but until now it has been unclear whether lung function is impaired in children of smokers who don’t have any breathing complaints or diagnosed lung problems like asthma.”

He added, “Tobacco companies have argued that passive smoke isn’t all that bad and that bans infringe on peoples’ freedom of choice. It can be now said unequivocally that the science supports a total ban on smoking indoors.”

Secondhand smoke is not a mere annoyance. It is a serious health hazard that can lead to disease and premature death in children and nonsmoking adults.

“Increasing ventilation does not help: There is no safe level for passive smoke, and the deadly effects of the toxic chemicals in cigarettes linger long after a butt is stubbed out. Even brief exposure can cause irreversible harm. Non-smokers exposed to passive smoke increase their risk of heart disease by 25 to 30 per cent and of lung cancer by 20 to 30 per cent,” said Dr Menon.

Dr Menon said that shopping malls and other ‘closed’ public areas were not the only risky places.

“Children spend much of their early life in the presence of their parents, and if their parents smoke, these children can be exposed to long periods of environmental smoke,” he said.

“According to international environmental protection agencies, about 100 million children below the age of six years are under the risk of passive smoking indoors. In addition to this we have a large population of women and expecting mothers who are put to extreme risks of second hand smoking due to indoor smoking,” he explained.

Giving statistics, Dr Menon pointed out that the Royal College of Physicians in the UK in 1992, reviewed over 120 papers published since 1980 on the subject of passive smoking and the health of children and others. Some of the main findings of their review included: Infants of parents who smoke are twice as likely to suffer from serious respiratory infection; Symptoms of asthma are twice as common in children of smokers; Passive smoking during childhood predisposes children to developing chronic obstructive airway disease and cancer as adults; Breathing secondhand smoke for even a short time can have immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system; Even a short time in a smoky room can cause your blood platelets to become stickier, damage the lining of blood vessels, decrease coronary flow velocity reserves, and reduce heart rate variability.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), tobacco is the second biggest killer in the world today, with approximately half the people who smoke regularly today — about 650 million people — likely to be eventually killed by tobacco. Equally alarming is the fact that hundreds of thousands of people who have never smoked die each year from diseases caused by breathing second-hand tobacco smoke.

Says doctor Fayaz Leon from a Dubai-based medical centre, “Second-hand tobacco smoke (SHS) has officially been classified as carcinogenic — cancer causing — in humans. It has also been linked to severe acute and chronic heart disease, bronchitis, pneumonia, and asthma in adults, and lower respiratory infections, asthma, and middle ear infections in children.”

“Family doctors should play a greater role in helping patients quit smoking. Research from WHO suggests that less than five per cent of smokers successfully quit without help or support, reflecting both the chronic and challenging nature of the disease and the difficulties inherent in creating a 100 per cent smoke-free environment,” he added.

“The media has been giving lots of information regarding smoking hazards, and as a smoker I, too, realise the perils. I would definitely give up smoking for the health of my children,” says M. Khan, a parent of two.