Danish grumblings over new smoking ban
South Asian Women's Forum - New Delhi,India
Denmark is the last of the five Nordic countries to introduce a smoking ban. Danish smokers who flout the law will not be fined but can be asked to leave ...
Denmark bans smoking in public places, bars and restaurants
August 15, 2007
COPENHAGEN, Denmark: Denmark on Wednesday joined the swelling ranks of European countries that have banned smoking in bars, restaurants and other public places. The Danish law had initially been due to take effect on April 1, but was delayed until Aug. 15 to allow pub and restaurant owners to build the necessary facilities for smokers.
The law allows people to light up in separate smoking rooms and in secluded one-person workplaces. Smoking is also allowed in bars that are smaller than 40 square meters (430 square feet).
Denmark's Smokers Association organized a small protest late Tuesday on Copenhagen's main square where two dozen people lit up cigarettes as the City Hall's bells tolled at midnight.
"Welcome to the brave new prohibition world," association chairman Soeren Hoejbjerg yelled in a bullhorn as the clock stroke midnight.
"One day, we will only be allowed to smoke on Himmelbjerget (one of the highest points of elevation in Denmark)," he said, according to Danish news agency Ritzau.
Nearly a quarter of people in this country of 5.4 million are exposed to passive smoking, according to the National Board of Health.
The board said passive smoking was responsible for the deaths of at least 150 Danes and the hospitalization of more than 1,000 every year.
Employees or restaurants that violate the ban can be fined. First time offenders face a 2,000 kroner (€270; US$367) fine. The second time, the penalty is 5,000 kroner (€672; US$913) and 10,000 kroner (€1,345; US$1,830) the third time.
Ireland, Italy, Malta, Norway, Sweden and Britain are among the European countries that have already banned smoking in public places.
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I can enlighten you on some of the points.
* In 1950, when everybody smoked, 500 died of lung cancer. Today, only 24 % smoke, yet 3500 died of lung cancer in 2005.
* The cigarette sales increase is due to lowering of taxes, that has halted cross border trade in cigarettes accros the border from Germany.
* Smoking rate of 24 % is identical to the smoking rate in Norway, which is conveniently disregarded. Cancer mortality is lower in Norway. The old cherry picking trick.
* Long waiting lists are especially critical for lung cancer patients, which compounds further the problem of cancer mortality. This problem in Denmark is known, and is not unique to lung cancer. There are problems recruiting physicians and nurses. Patients are sent abroad for treatment. Smoking rates have nothing to do with this structural problem.
- Soren
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Cancer rate among the world's highest
July 17, 2007
Denmark has one of the world’s highest cancer mortality rates primarily due to its relatively high number of smokers
A deadly trio of poor lifestyles, too much smoking and long waiting periods for cancer treatment are undermining cancer prevention efforts and combining to give the country one of the world’s highest mortality rates for the disease, reported Berlingske Tidende newspaper this weekend.
Denmark's mortality rate from cancer rate is by far the highest in western Europe and puts the country’s prevention efforts on par with Kazakhstan, according to statistics from the World Health Organisation, the European U nion and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
For every 100,000 people in Denmark, 167 die of cancer. In Sweden, the figure is only 116 out of 100,000 and 115 in Finland. In only 13 of the WHO’s 193 member countries is there a greater risk of dying from cancer than in Denmark.
Most Danish cancer patients die within six months of the disease being detected, and most of those deaths are from lung cancer.
‘Denmark has a full-blown cancer problem which has stabilised at a very high level,’ said Dr Peter Boyle of the International Cancer Research Institute in Lyon, France. ‘It doesn’t seem as if the warnings against smoking have gotten through to Danes.’
Hans Storm, head of research for the Danish Cancer Society, pointed out that the relatively high percentage of Danes who light up - 24 percent of the population, compared with 17 percent in Sweden - plays a major role in the high death rate.
‘In Denmark it’s still okay to smoke everyone else out of the room,' he said. ‘Regardless of how good our health system is, the survival rate from lung cancer is not especially good,’ said .
While smoking has continually declined in popularity since the 1950s when 80 percent of men and 45 percent of women smoked, there has been a 15 percent increase in cigarette sales in Denmark since 2000.
That increase has gotten politicians to take a closer look at the price of cigarettes. The cheapest cigarettes in Denmark cost around DKK 20 a pack, which is about half the price of cigarettes in Norway and the UK.
The Liberals, Conservatives and the Danish People’s Party - who together create a majority in parliament - are now considering a proposal to raise cigarette prices.
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DENMARK AGAINST SMOKING BANS
18th-19th of June 2007
700 Bar owners in Denmark are to start legal challenge against danish government.
Bar owners in Denmark fight for right to smoke !
Bar owners decide to press charges against the danish state during a meeting in a bar in the jutland city of Aarhus.
The owners of about seven hundred bars and cafes in Denmark, who are opposed to the new smokingban in Denmark, are now asked to support the sue against the danish state both economically and morally.
That was the result of a meeting held tuesday the 18th of june 2007 by bar owners from the towns Aarhus,Vejle and Copenhagen on the small cosy bar Pusterummet ("The Breathing Space") in Aarhus.
Bar owner Johnny Beck from the bar Lumskebugten ("The treaky Bay") informs that the summer of 2007 will be used to find a lawyer, who is willing to take upon him the work of a case against the state, after the law goes into effect that imposes smoking ban on bars larger than forty square meters from the 15th of august 2007.
It can become a costly and protacted proces, but we count on that the many bar owners who has supported us morally during our antismokingban campaign and demonstration and signature campaign, also will make a economical contribution, Johnny beck says.
The smoking ban is a violation of the liberty of the individual.That is the attitude of the dozen bar owners, who met at the bar Pusterummet
30.05.2007
Parliament has passed its much-discussed smoking law, though the battle over the right to light up rages on
A new smoking law that will go into effect 15 August was passed by parliament Tuesday. The ban will make it illegal to smoke at nearly all public and private workplaces and schools.
In addition to schools and workplaces, smoking will be forbidden in all public transport and taxis, restaurants and bars, with the exception of taverns smaller than 40 square metres that do not serve food.
But smoking will still be allowed for residents of nursing care homes and other institutions serving the socially disadvantaged or mentally ill. In addition, smoking will still be permitted in buildings with special smoking rooms and private offices.
Those exemptions resulted in 15 of the 111 members of parliament present for yesterday's vote to either abstain or oppose the measure. Another 68 MPs did not attend the final debate.
One of those abstaining from voting was Charlotte Fischer, the Social Liberal health spokesperson. She told TV2 News: 'The law forces employees to work in areas filled with smoke. Service and cleaning personnel still have to attend to restaurants' smoking rooms. It is a social insult in an area where inequality is already too great.'
The Danish Cancer Society also believes the law falls well short of what is necessary to protect employees.
'In principle, smoking can continue everywhere,' said Dr Inge Clemmensen, head of the organisation's workplace research and prevention division. 'We've gotten a cultural law that tells us where we can smoke but not a health law that limits the damage of smoking.'
In April smokers and small tavern owners staged a large protest against plans to adopt the law outside Christiansborg. they presented parliament with a petition signed by 61,000 people - but their efforts proved to be in vain.
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Thousands blow smoke at parliament
April 19, 2007
A mass demonstration at Christiansborg Palace continued Thursday as smokers protested against the new anti-smoking laws
Smokers from across the country puffed away outside the house of parliament Thursday in protest of new anti-smoking legislation. In a second day of demonstrations nearly 10,000 smokers and restaurateurs handed politicians a petition signed by 61,000 people demanding a revision of legislation that will ban smoking in the vast majority of indoor public spaces.
Hundreds of cigarette, cigar and pipe lovers arrived at Christiansborg Palace in buses Wednesday to protest the new law, which is set to take effect on 25 August and will ban smoking in businesses larger than 40 square metres. The law also forbids the same establishments from serving any food items other than snacks such as crisps and nuts.
Over 300 bars had formally joined the protest as of Thursday morning, according to Dato newspaper.
‘Our politicians have to listen to us,' said Johnny Beck, manager of the Lumskebugten tavern in Vejle on Jutland, where the movement began. ‘We’ve gathered more than 61,000 signatures in just a short period and the debate has shown that we have the citizens behind us.’
Opponents of the new law believe it will force many restaurants and bars to close by driving away their core of faithful smoking customers. Many are also complaining about the cost of building the smoking rooms that would permit businesses to continue to allow smoking.
Birthe Skaarup, chair for parliament’s health committee, was not moved by the protests.
‘I think we’ve reached a viable solution, but we’re naturally ready to listen to the people,’ Skaarup told the crowd.
The committee did agree to give representatives for the demonstrators the chance to discuss their concerns during a meeting scheduled for Thursday afternoon. But smoker Ole Tjener of the city of Svendborg, Funen felt there wasn't anything to discuss.
‘They’re not going to tell me whether or not I can smoke at my local bar.’
ReadCafe and restaurant owners protest Danish smoking ban
April 18, 2007
Hundreds of Danish cafe and restaurant owners and their customers protested on Wednesday outside parliament against a ban on smoking in public places due to be introduced on August 15.
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Protest planned for April 18, 2007
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Denmark delays smoking ban
3/13/07
COPENHAGEN (AFP) - Denmark will delay introducing a ban on smoking in public places by four months to give lawmakers more time to consider the legislation, a senior Danish MP said Tuesday.
"We have simply not had the time to examine this question in depth, and we do not want to botch it in such a short time," Preben Rudingaard, deputy chairman of parliament's health commission and a member of the ruling liberal party, told AFP.
Rudingaard said that a large majority of lawmakers still backed the idea, adding that the ban would now come into effect on August 15 rather than April 1 as planned.
From that time it will be illegal to smoke in public buildings, shopping centres, sports halls, cultural centres and other public spaces.
Smoking will also be banned in bars, cafes and restaurants bigger than 100 metres squared (1,070 square feet), although separate smoking areas will be allowed. For smaller venues, it will be up to the owner to decide.
The government believes the private sector should also take action on smoking but refuses to legislate in this area.
Official statistics from 2005 suggest 28 per cent of the Danish population smoke, including 31 per cent of men and 25 per cent of women, against 41 per cent and 37 per cent ten years earlier.
Smoking bans have already been introduced across Europe, in Ireland, Norway, Italy, Malta, Sweden, Scotland, Latvia and Lithuania, with Wales set to follow in April and England in July.
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The government is ready to propose banning smoking at all restaurants starting in April 2007
March 28, 2006
The country's smoking regulations are to be expanded to include restaurants, bars, and other establishments serving food, reported TV2 on Tuesday. The new law will go into effect on 1 April 2007.
'The goal is a clear one: people need to be able to go out and about without being subjected to smoke against their will. That involves cafés and other public places,' said the minister of health, Lars Løkke Rasmussen.
The law will allow restaurants to set up separate smoking rooms. Bars over 100 square metres will also be permitted to have a smoking room.
The new ban builds on Denmark's current smoking legislation, which took effect on 1 June 2005. The law requires all restaurants and bars to post a sign telling customers whether the restaurant allows smoking, forbids it, or has a smoking section.
Public buildings, such as city halls and the house of parliament, are also in the process of restricting smoking to specially ventilated areas or requiring that smoking workers step outside, away from entrances, before lighting up.
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