There is a global trend toward tougher regulations to prevent passive smoking, meaning situations in which people are forced to breathe other people's cigarette smoke. Japan should steadily promote such steps ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Games.
A revision of the Health Promotion Law designed to prevent passive smoking has been enacted after passing a House of Councillors plenary session by a majority vote, with support mainly from the ruling parties. The revised law will take full effect by April 2020.
The revised law bans smoking on the premises of schools, hospitals and government office buildings. Although smoking will be totally prohibited inside these buildings, these facilities are permitted to have designated outdoor smoking areas. Smoking also is prohibited, in principle, in restaurants and company office buildings, but these places can establish designated smoking rooms.
People aged under 20, including employees, will be prohibited from entering areas where smoking is allowed. Penalties will be imposed for repeated violations of the law.
Existing countermeasures merely require facility operators to make efforts to keep people from being exposed to secondhand smoke. The introduction of preventive measures bolstered by penalties is hugely significant.
Smoking will be permitted, for the time being, at existing restaurants and bars with a customer seating area of 100 square meters or less that are run by individuals, provided they display signs indicating that customers can light up. The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry initially considered a proposal that would have limited this exemption to bars and other establishments with a shop floor area of 30 square meters or less, but the scope was expanded out of consideration for operators of small restaurants and bars.
As a result, only about 45 percent of all eating and drinking establishments are expected to be subject to the smoking ban.
Local govts must follow Tokyo
The harmful effects of exposure to secondhand smoke have been laid bare in a wide array of research and studies. The World Health Organization takes a negative approach toward the establishment of designated smoking rooms because it believes completely banning smoking indoors is the only effective way to prevent passive smoking. Fifty-five nations have introduced a total ban on indoor smoking, including in restaurants and bars.
The content of the revised law pales in comparison to international standards. The restaurant industry worries that a smoking ban would turn off customers, but there also have been cases in which a ban has attracted more new customers, such as families with children. By deepening understanding of the steps to prevent harm to people's health, the range of indoor places where smoking is totally banned should be gradually expanded.
How to handle heated tobacco also is an issue to be addressed. The impact of passive smoking from these products has not been fully elucidated, so regulations on them are looser than those for cigarettes. Further research should be conducted on heated tobacco products and appropriate countermeasures considered for them.
The Tokyo metropolitan government has enacted an ordinance on preventing passive smoking that is stricter than the national regulations. Restaurants and bars that have at least one employee will, in principle, need to be smoke-free, regardless of their size. Given that the ordinance will cover about 84 percent of restaurants and bars in Tokyo, its impact will be considerable. Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike overcame fierce resistance from the restaurant industry to get the ordinance passed.
The International Olympic Committee and the WHO are promoting a "tobacco-free" Olympics. Many recent host cities have banned indoor smoking. It is understandable that Tokyo took the bold step of imposing regulations almost on a par with international standards as the 2020 Games approach.
The metropolitan government will subsidize 90 percent of the cost of setting up a smoking room in a restaurant or bar. Strengthening support, guidance and supervision for restaurants and bars will be essential for ensuring this policy is effective.
Other local governments also should devise passive smoking countermeasures tailored to their own regional conditions.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, July 19, 2018)
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