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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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Japan: Taxi Drivers and Passengers Fight for Protection Against Passive Smoking in Cabs in Court [09/16-3]
Excerpts from: Taxi drivers, passengers make case against passive smoking in cabs
By YUMI WIJERS-HASEGAWA The Japan Times [09/15/04]
Taxi drivers and passengers demanded in court Tuesday better measures to curb
passive smoking in cabs.
During the first session of a lawsuit brought before the Tokyo District Court, cabby Koichi Yasui, 71, said that 30 years of being subjected to passive smoking caused him to suffer serious heart problems, including angina pectoris.
But both his past employer and the Tokyo Taxi Center, an industry association that sets standards for taxis, not only ignored his plight but punished him for complaining, he said.
Yasui is one of three taxi drivers and 23 passengers who filed a lawsuit in July demanding 13.6 million yen in compensation from the government for failing to actively curb smoking in taxis.
Yasui argued that statistics show that more than 70 percent of all people are nonsmokers, and that smoking in a taxi causes health damage not only to drivers but also to nonsmoking passengers, as it takes time before the vehicle is completely free of smoke after someone has lighted up inside.
Yasui is now a self-employed cabby. His taxi in 1988 became one of Japan's first authorized nonsmoking cabs.
According to the plaintiffs, the transport ministry eased regulations in 2000 to make it possible for taxi operators to introduce nonsmoking taxis.
In a May 2003 law aimed at boosting public health, taxis were also listed together with other modes of public transport and facilities such as buses, schools and hospitals where efforts must be made to curb passive smoking.
But the plaintiffs maintained that the law has done little to curb the problem because it is nonbinding, and taxi companies are reluctant to promote nonsmoking cabs, fearing they will lose passengers.
"It is also a means of transportation often used by the weak, including the sick, the old, or those who are pregnant," she said. "But currently, only 1.2 percent of all taxis (in Japan) are nonsmoking, meaning if a person rides a taxi twice a month, the chance of encountering a safe, nonsmoking taxi comes only once in 3 1/2 years."
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