Nobody happy with parks smoking ban

Smokers and non-smokers alike have lodged complaints about a non-tobacco-smoking parks plan in Taiwan’s Taoyuan County, which aims to increase their number to 376 by next month, according to a story in the Taipei Times.

The county government defended the move as following Ministry of Health and Welfare policy.

In theory, the new plan could impact about 300,000 people—the number of smokers in the county’s population, according to Taoyuan County Department of Health data.

On hearing the news of the parks-ban expansion, [unnamed] smokers lodged complaints saying that the parks were open, public areas, and that because the smoke dissipated quickly, air quality was minimally impacted.

However, [unnamed] nonsmokers were quoted as saying the parks were the equivalent of a city’s lungs.

They said citizens exercised there and that clean air was important for children and pregnant women, who often used the parks’ recreational facilities.

The group of nonsmokers were said to have accused the county government of paying lip service to the policy.

They said that, in the years since it established designated nonsmoking parks, not a single fine had been issued.