[Intl-tobacco] Israel: update on smoking rates, regulations and enforcement

[Robert Weissman]

Survey: 51 percent of non-smokers are afraid to ask smokers to put out
their cigarettes in public places - Ha'arertz


 Tuesday, January 21, 2003 Shvat 18, 5763

 By Haim Shadmi

 At a press conference yesterday marking the first anniversary of laws
banning smoking in public places, Health Minister Nissim
 Dahan assailed local authorities for failing to enforce the bans.

 Dahan said he was shocked at the local authorities' unwillingness to
cooperate with the enforcement of the bans and warned that if
 the they did not change their attitudes he would - in the event he
remains health minister after the elections - transfer enforcement
 powers to the Health Ministry.

 Dahan presented the results of a survey commissioned by the ministry
that showed that 51 percent of the non-smoking public are
 afraid of a violent reaction if they ask people smoking in public
places to put out their cigarettes. Dr. Mina Zemach, who
 conducted the survey, described the data as astonishing.

 `People are killed over parking spots'

 Dahan said that if people were killed in disputes over parking spots,
it was no wonder that people were afraid to speak up against
 smoking.

 The survey did, however, show that some 39 percent of the people
questioned felt that since legislation of the ban, they were more
 at ease asking smokers to put out their cigarettes. Some 55 percent of
those questioned said they preferred to go out to restaurants
 with a smoking zone.

 The survey also showed a decline in the number of smokers who intend to
kick the habit. In 2002, some 35 percent of those
 questioned said they would quit smoking by the year's end, compared
with some 45 percent in 2001.

 The Health Ministry's deputy PR chief, Yair Amikam, presented a sample
cigarette packet in line with new advertising laws for
 tobacco products passed recently by the Knesset.

 Under the new regulations, health warnings on cigarette packages must
take up 30 percent of the package space, compared with
 only five percent at present. As well as the standard "smoking can
damage your health" warning, cigarette manufacturers will now
 have to publish 13 different warnings, such as "smoking can cause
impotency" and "smoking may complicate pregnancy".

 http://www.haaretzdaily.com/[...]ntrassID=0&listSrc=Y


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 'Public is ripe' for anti-smoking law, pollster says - Jerusalem Post

 Monday, January 20, 2003

 By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH


 Smokers and non-smokers alike believe that those who illegally light up
in public places should be asked politely to stop,
 according to a Dahaf poll conducted by Dr. Mina Tzemah for the Health
Ministry. But while the vast majority of the general
 public agreed on that point, 51 percent said they don't follow through
because they fear verbal or physical violence from smokers.

 The rest said they are shy, believe it is "not their job," or insist it
"wouldn't help." Only 11% of the general public said that being
 near lit cigarettes does not bother them.

 In a press conference on Sunday, Health Minister Nissim Dahan said the
tobacco industry is "committing crimes against
 humanity" by producing and selling products that kill and contain
additives purposely included to spur addiction. He said that if
 he had the power, he would bar the sale of tobacco products "like other
drugs."

 Conceding that enforcement of the law he signed in August 2001, barring
smoking in the remainder of public places where it had
 been previously allowed, has been poor, Dahan said his ministry will
initiate legislation to transfer responsibility for enforcement
 from local authorities and municipalities to Health Ministry
inspectors.

 There are hundreds of inspectors around the country whose main job is
to supervise hygiene in restaurants and food
 manufacturing establishments, but Dahan said hundreds more will be
added and their wages paid by the fines collected.

 The health minister said that improving enforcement and boosting
education about the harm caused by smoking would take time.
 He was not yet ready to consider privatization, in which a company
would be chosen to respond to anonymous complaints from
 the public about violators by giving fines on the spot, with part of
the proceeds going to health education and smoking cessation
 efforts. But he did not reject this "drastic" idea out of hand, saying
he first wanted to see whether ministry inspectors would do the
 job better than municipal ones.

 Today, only 25% of the public over age 18 said they smoke, compared to
27% when the law went into effect 19 months ago. In
 the US, the smoking rate is down to 23%.

 Comparing the results of her latest poll, to her previous survey in May
2001, Tzemah said that the "public is ripe" for the law
 restricting smoking in public places. The vast majority of the public,
including half of heavy smokers, says that the right of
 non-smokers for clean air supercedes the "right" of smokers to light
up. "Clearly, smoking in public places disturbs the public,"
 the veteran pollster said.

 Fifty-seven percent of those queried said they felt fewer people smoke
in public places today compared to before the law went into
 effect, while 37% said this is not the case. At the same time, only 35%
of smokers said in 2002 that they want to quit, while the
 figure was 44% in 2001.

 Newspaper advertisements for cigarettes are now obligated to insert any
of 13 different warning messages, including the fact that
 smoking causes impotence and addiction, harms physical fitness,
introduces 43 carcinogens into the body, and that 75% of all
 heart attack patients under the age of 45 are smokers. The old warnings
on cigarette packages and packets, that the Health
 Ministry says smoking poses serious harm to health, cover only five
percent of their surface area. The ministry wants this to be
 raised to 30%, but so far the Knesset committee headed by Shinui MK
Avraham Poraz that has dealt with such bills has fought
 vociferously against this.

 Ministry officials noted that the English-speaking population has been
at the forefront of anti-smoking efforts, and noted that
 cities such as Ra'anana and Herzliya, which have many former immigrants
from English-speaking countries, have been much
 more rigorous in enforcement.

 http://www.jpost.com/[...]ll&cid=1042977196735