Antismoking laws: the challenge

I was so annoyed with this man in front of me while I was waiting for a bus ride one early morning: He was smoking. With nary a care, he had lit a cigarette—as if nobody else was around, as if he was not aware of the ordinance in Davao City banning smoking in public places. I could only wonder: Is he a foreigner who has no idea of the law’s existence?

The antismoking ordinance was sort of a turning point for Davaoeños in promoting discipline and a healthy lifestyle. Discipline in a sense that smokers could no longer do their thing, so to speak, anywhere as they please, except in designated areas. Under this ordinance, violators can be penalized with a maximum fine of P5,000 or four months of imprisonment.

I fully appreciate the ordinance because I am all for a tobacco smoke-free environment free. Tobacco smoke is, after all, hazardous-to-health; and health is our number one capital in all our pursuits in life. Without good health, we are doomed to perdition, we cannot properly perform many things we want to do.

According to World Health Organization (WHO), every year around 5 million people all over the world die from direct tobacco use. In 2004 alone, death from second-hand smoke exceeded 600,000, with children making up 28 percent of the toll.

Nonsmokers like me are wary of the effects of secondhand smoke. Tobacco smoke contains 4,000 chemicals, of which 250 are harmful and more than 50 can cause cancer.

Secondhand smoke is tobacco smoke inhaled by nonsmokers. WHO says secondhand smoke could lead to coronary heart disease and lung cancer among adults, low-birth weight among newborn babies of women regularly exposed to it during their pregnancy, or sudden death among infants.

Ironically, these deaths are too many in a country with a policy, backed up by several laws, prohibiting smoking in all public utility vehicles and transportation terminals (e.g., Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003, Clean Air Act of 1999, and an LTRRB (Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board) Memorandum Circular No. 2009-036.

Who should we blame for the “impotence” of these laws and nonenforcement of the antismoking policy?

Some observations: Apparently, local public officials mostly lack the courage to face criticism and the ability to defend a policy that they themselves formulated in the first place—or ensure its
enforcement.

But indeed the policy would be useless if the citizens themselves, more particularly the smokers, will not cooperate. Smokers should always be mindful of the detrimental effects of smoking and be considerate of nonsmokers’ wellbeing. Smoking in the presence of nonsmokers is like dumping one’s garbage on other people’s backyards or, worse, deliberately spreading harmful, dangerous—even deadly—bacteria in one’s neighborhood with full malice.

Everyone has the right to be healthy, to have a clean environment and to breathe clean air. Needless to say, by law, it is the duty of government to institute and enforce the antismoking policy. But the people, too, are responsible for taking good care of themselves, especially their health.

Joyce Meyer, a Christian author, said that the greatest gift you can give to the world and family is a healthy you. Virgil, a Roman poet of ancient times, said health is the greatest wealth.

PRINCE G. BINONDO,
princebinondo@gmail.com