Antis nose around homes

Anti-tobacco campaigners in Scotland are pushing for new measures that could prevent smokers from lighting up at home, according to a story by Colin McNeill for the Herald Scotland.

ASH Scotland wants to hold talks with social housing providers to explore ways of introducing no-smoking rules for some tenants.

It wants to look also at how legislation surrounding smoking in residential care homes could be tightened to protect staff from passive smoking.

The move has been boosted by a call from Aberdeen University academic Dr. Sean Semple for a national debate around smoking at home.

“We need to have a debate on why we currently think it acceptable to expose non-smokers, including children, to second-hand tobacco smoke within indoor spaces,” he said. “That debate needs to include smoking in the home.”

However, the smokers’ group Forest was said to have branded any attempt to stop people from smoking in a home setting as “obnoxious”, adding that it would constitute a gross invasion of privacy and be almost impossible to enforce.

“Targeting social housing is particularly obnoxious because it penalises unfairly those who can’t afford to buy their own home,” Forest director Simon Clark was quoted as saying. “Prohibiting smoking at home would be almost impossible to enforce but it could create a snooper’s charter encouraging people to snitch on neighbours they don’t like.

“What happens if someone is caught and prosecuted? The consequences, including possible eviction, are out of all proportion to the alleged offence.”

Meanwhile, a Japan Times story on Monday reported how a by-law aimed at protecting children from passive smoking – including in private places such as their homes – had been enacted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly.

What was said to be the first prefecture-level measure of its kind calls on people not to smoke inside rooms or vehicles in which children under 18 are present.

The by-law, which carries no penalties, calls on Tokyoites to try to ensure that children are not subjected to passive smoking anywhere. It calls on parents not to smoke in rooms where children are present.