[Intl-tobacco] Israel: Clearing the Air (fwd)

[Robert Weissman]

Clearing the Air
by Judy Siegel-Itzkovich
Source: Jerusalem Post, Thursday, 7/27/00

(July 27) -- Founded under one year ago, the non-profit organization
Ma'avak Be'tabak is playing an active role in the war on tobacco - and
taking the city to task on anti-smoking law violations --

Most people who fume about an injustice or a problem in society stay angry
for a while and then just calm down and forget it. But Dov Rabinowitz, an
immigrant from Boston who lives with his wife and two young children,
decided to take action. His target is the violation of anti-smoking laws
and the offering of aid to smokers who are addicted to tobacco and want to
quit.

The result is Ma'avak Be'tabak (Struggle Against Tobacco), a registered
voluntary organization that he chairs and that has been taking important
initiatives - even testifying before the Health Ministry's Public
Commission on Reducing Tobacco Smoking.

Rabinowitz, who made aliya at 15 and has a Bar-Ilan University law degree
but spends his time running a softball team in Jerusalem, first became
aware of the smoking toll from a news story in The Jerusalem Post. Written
by The Post's health reporter about eight years ago, the story reached him
at his dorm at Yeshivat Kerem Be'Yavne and quoted statistics that some
5,000 Israelis die from smoking each year - making it the leading single
cause of death in the country.  "I was shocked. I had thought it was a
typographical error and called The Post's newsroom, where I was assured it
was correct. Since then, the death toll has doubled. Passive smoking is
the second largest cause of death, after active smoking. Deaths on the
road and from terrorism can't compare."

The young immigrant was so outraged that he joined a small anti-smoking
organization in Jerusalem that was "lots of talk but no action." After
having his own family, he became increasingly worried about his own and
their exposure to sidestream smoke in public places and regretted the
senseless loss of life and health that results from smoking. He got
together a few dozen friends and registered the non-profit organization
last September. Most of the members are English-speakers, but the group
wants Hebrew-speakers to join too.

Before he became involved, Rabinowitz wasn't particularly assertive about
his right to breathe clean air. "If I were in a taxi whose driver was
smoking, I'd think: 'He's had a long day, and he's tired. Who am I to tell
him not to smoke?' But now I am insistent, although I do it politely, in a
nice way. I don't hate smokers; they're addicted. They can't help it. And
especially the kids - they don't know they're prisoners of tobacco.
They're not to blame."

After setting up stands outside the Hamashbir department store, handing
out information about the health dangers of tobacco and offering to help
smokers quit, Ma'avak Be'tabak decided to focus on a number of targets
that would bring about quick changes of behavior and an improvement in the
quality of life. The first target on the list was Jerusalem-area
restaurants and cafes. In coordination with the Jerusalem District Health
Office, the group sent volunteers to such establishments to check whether
they were observing the law requiring any place that serves food and has
20 seats to set aside at least half the space for non-smokers. "The law is
not perfect. The non-smokers' area may be right next to the smokers' area
with nothing in between to prevent smoke from entering. But it's
something, and owners are bound to post visible signs for the designated
areas."

Rabinowitz and his friends regularly query restaurant and cafe owners,
asking them to estimate what percentage of Israeli adults smoke; the
owners regularly overestimate the figure, which is about 27 percent. "And
when we ask customers themselves, including smokers, whether they would
advocate non-smoking areas, they are invariably in favor. This opens the
businessmen's eyes." The organization is preparing large stickers in
Hebrew and English that will be affixed to the windows of restaurants
where the law is being observed, with a special certificate for those that
are completely smoke-free. Rabinowitz is also printing up cards that
customers can leave at a restaurant saying that they "would have enjoyed
the meal more if you had observed the rules restricting smoking."
Rabinowitz notes that for people who are disgusted by or sensitive to
cigarette smoke, being stuck next to smokers at a restaurant can mean a
ruined evening. And Western tourists are even more likely than Israelis
never to return to place with smoke in the air. "We don't hand out fines.
We try to persuade. But in blatant cases of refusal to observe the law, we
will tell the authorities about the violators."

Ma'avak Be'tabak will soon issue its first Non-Smoker's Guide to Jerusalem
Restaurants with listings of establishments where one really can enjoy a
meal protected from tobacco fumes. Among those that already bar smoking
completely are Bagel Bite, Village Green, Agas Vetapuah, and Eucalyptus.
(For more information, write der@bezeqint.net or call 02- 6735061.) Max
Brenner's Chocolates also prohibits anyone from bringing a lighted
cigarette into the shop, says Rabinowitz. "They explain that they produce
outstanding chocolates and don't want cigarette smoke to be one of the
ingredients. That really shows their pride in quality. Bakeries and other
food shops should feel the same."  The Jerusalem activist hopes the law
will be changed to bar all smoking in roofed shopping centers such as the
Jerusalem Mall, where the air is stale during rush hours.

Rabinowitz is disappointed by the Jerusalem Municipality's inadequate
efforts to fight smoking in public places, even though the city could earn
a lot of money collecting fines. "The city certainly is not enthusiastic
about fining smokers who break the law. And when The Post published a
story about Mayor Ehud Olmert declaring city council meeting rooms as
'smoking rooms' so he could light up his cigar - in violation of the law -
he did us a service. Many Jerusalemites were outraged about his behavior,
and it even brought us new members," Rabinowitz recalls. "We are planning
to lobby Olmert with demands that he enforce the law." But Ma'avak
Be'tabak does give a lot of credit to former health minister MK Shlomo
Benizri for his vigorous battle against smoking.

Other initiatives include lobbying for legislation to bar the sale of
cigarettes to minors and increasing awareness among observant Jews that
smoking violates Halacha. "No one would say it's reasonable to sell an
addictive substance - nicotine is more addictive than heroin - to minors,"
says Rabinowitz. "If, as they claim, tobacco companies really promote
their products to get adult smokers to switch brands, why do they invest
so much in promoting sports competitions and other events attended
primarily by teenagers?" He also feels that the Israel Defense Force, in
whose service many young people begin to smoke, should do more to educate
soldiers about the health risks posed by smoking. "I know they're busy
with life-and-death matters, but this is one of them. Commanders are very
concerned about each soldier, who they are charged with taking care of, so
they should stress more the physical and psychological addiction posed by
tobacco."

As for religious Jews, "there is incredible dissonance between being an
Orthodox Jew and smoking. Jews are not allowed to damage their own or
others' health. But you can't get the message across to them in the
general media,"  concludes Rabinowitz, who is modern Orthodox. "You have
to reach them with messages that they will understand."