[Intl-tobacco] Israel: Fines for violating smoking laws begin today (fwd)

[Robert Weissman]

Fines for violating smoking laws begin today
by Judy Siegel
Source: Jerusalem Post, 2001-10-01

JERUSALEM (October 1) - Starting today, police or municipal inspectors who
catch people smoking in public places will give the violators a NIS 280
fine.

The catch is that very few municipalities are sending their inspectors to
deal with non-smokers' complaints, and the hard-pressed police force is
unlikely to have the time for it.

The law barring smoking in the last of public places where it had been
permitted - shopping malls, schools, airports and lecture halls, as well
as restaurants and cafes where a completely separate smoking room is
unavailable - went into effect on August 1. But Health Minister Nissim
Dahan, who formally signed the bill into law, set a running-in period of
two months during which only warnings, but not fines, would be handed out.
Restaurateurs had complained they had no time to set up completely
isolated and ventilated smoking rooms, and since then few have actually
built them.

The ministry and the Israel Cancer Association spent NIS 1.5 million on a
two-week media campaign aimed at getting non-smokers to demand that
smokers put out their cigarettes in public places. The campaign focused on
the theme: "Don't die from being bashful. Ask that they put out their
cigarettes."

Iris Fried, head of public information and health education for the Cancer
Association, said the campaign raised awareness of the new law, but she
conceded that she did "not see any reduction in smoking in public places
as a result of it. It will be a gradual thing. The campaign did, however,
make it more likely that smokers lighting up illegally would put their
cigarette out if and when asked to by a non-smoker."

But the campaign did not advise people where to complain when the smokers
ignored them. Dahan last week sent a letter to Interior Minister Eli
Yishai (also of Shas) asking him to ensure that municipalities and local
authorities enforce the law, which is aimed "at protecting the health of
non-smokers in public places. Data show that toxins from cigarettes
breathed in by non-smokers can cause great harm, and this we must
prevent," Dahan added.

The Center for Local Authorities, headed by Adi Eldar, subsequently issued
a statement calling on the municipalities and local authorities to send
out inspectors and fine violators. "Enforcement is a complex matter that
requires much municipal activism," Eldar added. "I hope residents will
accept the law with understanding and not get involved in needless
confrontations with municipal inspectors."

But the new law is blatantly violated in many shops, malls, eating places,
Ben-Gurion Airport, and even in the courts.

Fried said that "the municipalities of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are the
worst" when it comes to enforcing the no-smoking law - even though the
municipalities pocket all the fines. On August 1, Jerusalem workers at the
106 information line said that no inspectors would hand out fines for
violations "except in City Hall itself or in the two Hadassah-University
Hospitals," where inspectors' salaries are financed by the Hadassah
Medical Organization. The Jerusalem Municipality said then that it
demanded funds from the Treasury to hire additional inspectors, but none
has been forthcoming. Asked again about the problem yesterday, municipal
spokesman Hagai Elias did not comment. But the association has met in
recent weeks with municipal officials from Ma'aleh Adumim (where she said
inspectors will be available and an anti-smoking civic campaign is under
way), Netanya, Haifa and Kiryat Tivon. Asked where people could complain
about violations, she said her office would be glad to receive them
(03-571-9577) and transfer them to the Health Ministry.

Ministry spokesman Ido Hadari advised complaining to one's municipality
(usually the 106 number), and if that was not effective, calling the
nearest district health office.