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Anti-Smoking Movement Goes Global

Published: 2010-09-23    Views:123 reads

 

Brief: Over the past three decades, a lengthy inventory of regulations has affected the way people smoke, and the way non-smokers interact with smokers. In England and Wales, having a cigarette at a pub is now harder than it was in 2007. Smoking bans in public spaces and workplaces now cover practically all of North America, and the way stores sell and advertise tobacco has changed drastically.

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Over the past three decades, a lengthy inventory of regulations has affected the way people smoke, and the way non-smokers interact with smokers. In England and Wales, having a cigarette at a pub is now harder than it was in 2007. Smoking bans in public spaces and workplaces now cover practically all of North America, and the way stores sell and advertise tobacco has changed drastically.

A three-country survey conducted by Angus Reid Public Opinion sought to find out how Americans, Britons and Canadians feel about smoking. The first thing that jumps out when looking at the data is that the measures taken by several municipalities, provinces and even countries to deal with smoking are endorsed by a large majority of respondents.

At least four in five people in the three countries agree with the one rule that has become almost universal: banning smoking in indoor public spaces and workplaces. At least two-thirds are in favour of prohibiting smokers from lighting up in a bar, restaurant or casino, or inside a car when a child or teenager is present.

Americans are not as keen on two other regulations that have been in place in Alberta since 2009. Three in four Canadians and three in five Britons agree with banning cigarette sales in all stores containing a pharmacy, but just 43 per cent of Americans concur.

The gap is wider on whether cigarette sales should be outlawed in all postsecondary educations. More than 80 per cent of Canadians and 60 per cent of Britons endorse this regulation, but only 47 per cent of Americans agree.

Tobacco advertising continues to be a contentious issue, particularly as planners struggle to fund events as the world emerges from the financial crisis. While people in the three countries wholeheartedly endorse warning labels and curbs on tobacco advertising, the level of support for banning tobacco companies from directly sponsoring events or conducting promotional giveaways is not as strong. For 40 per cent of Americans, 31 per cent of Canadians and 18 per cent of Britons--not all of them smokers--it is wrong to steer tobacco companies away from sponsoring events.