EDITORIAL - The right to breathe clean air

Other countries are banning smoking completely in all public places. In the Philippines, where there are local laws prohibiting smoking in indoor public places, health officials announced on the eve of World No Tobacco Day that billboard advertising of tobacco products would be banned by July.

The ban is not frivolous. The other day the World Health Organization announced there is clear evidence that there is no such thing as a safe level of exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke. WHO reported that tobacco use kills 5.4 million people around the world each year, making it the leading cause of preventable deaths. By 2030, the annual death toll is expected to rise to 8.3 million, WHO reported. Of the recorded deaths, at least 200,000 are attributed to exposure to tobacco smoke in workplaces. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency says up to 3,000 non-smoking Americans die each year of lung cancer.

Armed with those statistics, WHO officials are urging governments to ban smoking completely in all indoor workplaces and public places. Everyone has a right to breathe clean air, WHO officials said in calling for the ban. They noted that existing ventilation technology cannot completely contain cigarette smoke in enclosed rooms, rendering useless the allocation of special smoking areas in indoor public places and workplaces.

In the Philippines, laws have been passed banning smoking in indoor public places. Like most laws in this country, however, enforcement of the smoking ban is spotty. Even in large cities such as Manila, several restaurants without special ventilation facilities have returned to the old practice of simply designating non-smoking areas.

Hounded by lawsuits and massive settlement claims, Big Tobacco has found that Asia remains a booming market for cigarettes. Studies have shown that the number of smokers in Asia is on the rise, particularly among women. It would not be surprising if the region registers the highest deaths attributed to tobacco smoke within a few years. Many of those deaths will be from passive smoke. These are deaths that can be prevented — if governments have the will to do what must be done to save lives.