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Action on Smoking and Health
A National Legal-Action Antismoking Organization Entirely Supported by Tax-Deductible Contributions
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Norway Begins Smoking Ban June 1 [06/01-3]
Excerpts from: Norway to start smoking ban
By
Alister Doyle
Reuters [05/31/04]
Norway will become the second nation in the world after Ireland to ban smoking in all bars and restaurants when smokers stub out their final cigarettes at midnight.
The June 1 law aims to protect waiters, bartenders, cooks and other staff from second-hand smoke blamed for causing cancer, respiratory and heart diseases.
Opinion polls show that the law, following similar restrictions in Ireland from March 29, has broad support despite worries by owners of restaurants and bars that business will be hit.
Norway did not regulate smoking until 1988 but Hoybraaten said it was already unthinkable to have to share an office or a lift with a smoker or to light up on a train, a bus or a plane.
At Oslo airport, visitors will be met by a picture of two men standing by a river and proudly showing off a fish. "The only thing we smoke here is salmon," the caption reads.
Norwegian health authorities will hand out 40,000 flowers around the Nordic nation on Monday to symbolise a freshening up of the air.
The Irish and Norwegian nationwide bans follow regional restrictions, for instance in U.S. cities and states from New York to California. Some other countries are considering following suit.
Norwegian bars and restaurants will face stiff fines unless they crack down on smokers.
Norway put off the planned introduction of the law from January 1, reckoning that it would be too tough to force bars and restaurants to shove smokers out into the freezing cold to smoke. Summertime gives an easier introduction for the law.
Norway hopes the ban will have the spinoff of getting people to quit. About 26 percent of adults smoke in Norway, far above a World Health Organisation (WHO) goal of a maximum 20 percent.
The WHO estimates that 4.9 million people die worldwide from tobacco use every year -- more than Norway's entire 4.6 million population -- and that the numbers are expected to double in the next 20 years.
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