Non-smokers want workplace ban
And one in five smokers say they would support a total ban on smoking at work, according to a study published yesterday.
It supports the drive by Health Minister Micheál Martin to broaden the smoking ban in public offices and buildings to workplaces.
Passive smoking in the workplace is a health hazard, classified as one of the leading causes of cancer, according to the WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).
A recent paper published by IARC found that there was sufficient evidence that passive smoking causes lung cancer.
Other medical studies of lung cancer in non-smokers exposed to second-hand tobacco smoke in the workplace found the risk of contracting the disease was between 16% and 19% higher.
The study involving 1,200 adults, commissioned by NiQuitin CQ, found that just under 50% of non-smokers were happy with workplace smoking policy.
Workplace smoking policies vary from permission to smoke only at certain times, to restricted area/smoking rooms and smoking outside the building.
Dr Fenton Howell, chairman of the anti-smoking campaign group ASH, pointed out that one in three workplaces still did not have a smoking policy in place.
“Given that we have evidence of the harmful effects of passive smoking, workers need to be protected from the health risks associated with exposure to second- hand smoke,” he said.
Dr Howell said workplace restrictions helped smokers to quit, together with advice from their GP and nicotine replacement therapy.
Nearly 7,000 people die in Ireland every year from smoking-related diseases - 20 times more than the number killed each year in road accidents.
Smoking is a major cause of 90% of lung cancer deaths, 25% of deaths from heart disease and about 75% of deaths from bronchitis and emphysema.
