In November, the British Parliament will consider a bill that would effectively eliminate smoking in all workplaces. And, it seems, the majority of people in the UK support this idea. In a poll of 1000 people in England and Wales, 73 percent support the Health Improvement and Protection Bill, without exception.
Currently, there is debate as to whether private clubs and pubs that do not serve prepared foods should be exempt from this legislation. But 85 percent of the respondents said that they would visit pubs more often if smoking were not allowed. This is consistent with what happened in Ireland and New York when smoking was banned from all public facilities.
The survey was conducted jointly by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) and Cancer Research UK. Pointing out that second-hand smoke kills more than 600 people each year, Deborah Arnott, director of ASH said, “The public wants action to end second-hand smoke at work… And it causes many thousands of asthma attacks and episodes of illness.”
