Prior to this ban, smoking was illegal in some designated places like shopping malls and cinemas. Now the list of smoke-free zones has grown considerably longer and includes most indoor workplaces and public areas. But we have to be careful where we slap our smokeless labels – exceptions to the rule may yet count out a few of the more obvious looking targets. Technically, smoking is banned indoors in six types of venue – bars, bathhouses, night clubs, adult massage establishments, mahjong-tin kau premises and designated mahjong rooms in clubs. But that doesn’t mean the air is now perfectly clear – venues are allowed to apply for an exemption which will allow smokers to keep puffing in such places until 30 June 2009.

At the time of printing, the Government had not yet announced which venues had been granted exemptions, but Diana Kam, representative for the Tobacco Control Office at the Department of Health, confirmed that “several hundred” had applied for exemption for the next two and half years.

Which begs the question, why should venues be granted an exemption in the first place? A partial ban, and that’s exactly what this is, causes venue discrimination and more problems than a full, far-reaching prohibition. And as all venues qualify as ‘workplaces’, their employees have as much right as workers in other non-smoking places to a clean, healthy and non-threatening environment.

According to government statistics, only 14 percent of our 6.9 million population are smokers, which means for every 10 people working in a exempted bar, nightclub or massage parlour at least eight are non-smokers who must yet continually contend with secondhand smoke. Which kills. That isn’t fabricated, it is the documented truth. In our city, 5,500 people die every year from illnesses complicated by respiratory problems brought on by secondhand smoke alone.
So why is the Government pandering to a minority who insist on imposing their choices on the majority? Okay, we’ve heard the arguments before; it’s a human right to choose to smoke. Yes, while that is right, it is also, however, the human right of 86 percent of the HK population not to be subjected to poisonous secondhand smoke every time they go anywhere indoors which relies on ventilation systems.

Ah, but if you get separate ventilation systems, we can smoke indoors, cry the smokers. Er, no, actually. One, ventilation systems are expensive, and two, most of them aren’t that effective. At best they can only filter out 60-70 percent of air pollutants. That still leaves another 30-40 percent of pollutants, a pretty substantial number, for others to inhale with the air. No choice.

And why does the law allow smoking in the outdoor area of a restaurant? If you’re sitting in a fairly cramped al fresco area – and let’s face it in our city you will be – you still have to taste the smoke of someone else’s cigarette as you try to enjoy your filet mignon. Not really what one could call a culinary delight. It’s unhealthy and unhygienic; wind could easily blow ash or smoke into other people’s food. Smoking should be banned in all places where food and beverages are consumed. Full stop.

People have lauded Hong Kong for taking a lead in South-east Asia by choosing to forbid smoking in most public places where people congregate, but in truth it’s just another pat on the back for a government which does a half-assed job at everything. If New York, Toronto, London and Dublin can get it right, why not Hong Kong?

Previously Smoke Free:
Shopping malls, department stores, supermarkets, banks, cinemas, theatres, concert halls, public lifts, amusement game centres, public transport carriers and the airport passenger terminal.

Now Smoke Free:
Indoor workplaces which includes all areas for working, takings meals and breaks; indoor areas in restaurants; indoor areas in karaokes; indoor areas in shops; escalators; public pleasure grounds (for example sports grounds, sports centres, playgrounds but not including those areas designated as a smoking areas); public swimming pools and their spectator stands; bathing beaches; stadiums; indoor and outdoor areas of child care centres, schools, universities and post secondary schools; indoor areas in residential care homes; indoor public places; indoor areas in markets; whole or a part of public transport interchanges; The Hong Kong Wetland Park and indoor and outdoor areas of hospitals.

Smoke Free BUT can be granted exemptions until June 30, 2009:
Indoor areas of bars, bathhouses, nightclubs, adult massage establishments, mahjong-tin kau premises and designated mahjong rooms in clubs.