Pub smoking ban 'unenforceable'

Smokers should move north if a new survey by British doctors is any guide.

After 2008, smoking will be banned in most workplaces including all pubs serving food. The evil weed will be allowed in so-called 'non-food' pubs. But according to a snapshot survey  by the British Medical Association (BMA), there could be wide regional differences with a strong north-south divide.

The BMA believe the survey undermines the Government's claims that only 10-30% of pubs do not serve prepared food.

Of the ten councils with the highest proportion of non-food pubs, 9 are towns or cities situated in the north of England or the Midlands. Of the 13 (out of 29) councils estimating that the proportion of non-food pubs in their area exceeded the Government's 10-30% estimate, ten of these councils were in the North or the Midlands.

Leeds had the highest estimate of non-food pubs in its council area (88%) while Bromley had the lowest (5%)

The BMA contacted a sample of councils in England for this survey asking them how many pubs in their area did not prepare and serve food on their premises. Many councils were unable to provide the information requested.

The BMA's Head of Science and Ethics, Dr Vivienne Nathanson asked: 'how does the Government plan to implement its proposals when theinformation about non-food pubs is so hard to come by? A number of councils have told us that the Government's proposals are unenforceable. The Labour Government has just started its third term of office, it's time it showed leadership and banned smoking in all enclosed public places.'

Ian Foulkes, Director of Policy at the Chartered Institute of EnvironmentalHealth (CIEH), added: 'We believe that the only method of protecting workers in indoor environments from the effects of tobacco is for all workplaces to be smokefree. It is also our view that Government's proposals will be totally unenforceable. No one should be required to work in smoky indoor environments. Perversely, these plans leave bar workers, who are already at the greatest levels of risk from second-hand smoke, unprotected from smokefree laws. The north/south divide shows that the Government's plans will make health inequalities worse.'

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