Canada: Ban Smoking on Terraces, Most Quebecers Agree

Source from:  CJAD 800 AM (ca)  08/14/2013

Smokers have been banned from smoking inside bars and restaurants since early 2006. Now the Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control is asking that smoking be banned on the terraces outside the establishments as well, and according to a report, two thirds of Quebecers agree.

"This is not something done against smokers," says David Lefebre, the Quebec Coalition for Tabacco Control's media relations officer, "this is done to protect the workers and as a second benefit, to all people that want to enjoy a good meal on a terrace."

Lefebre says that although the terraces are outside, the exposure risks to second hand smoke are the same.

"For us, especially regarding the hospitality workers, there is no safe exposure level."

Whether they're enclosed or not also doesn't help.

"The roofing doesn't make a big difference, whether the terrace is open-air or there's roofing or a parasol or something like [that]. It doesn't make a real difference, there's always a very high level of small particles."

In an article referenced by Lefebre, Ryan Kennedy, PhD., a researcher at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and recently at Harvard University, measured fine particles in the air of terraces of a few bars during a visit to Montreal. Regardless of the type of terrace, the index of air quality on the terrace could reach levels comparable to the worst smog days in Los Angeles or those obtained in Kelowna, British Columbia when forest fires ravaged the region. And that was smoke from a single cigarette.

Lefebre adds that for workers that are out on the terraces for eight or even twelve hour shifts don't have a choice in being exposed to second hand smoke since it is a part of their job, and need the same protection that other workers in Quebec have.

For smokers concerned about where they may and may not be able to smoke in the future, the Coalition says they will be focusing on bar and restaurant terraces, as well as playgrounds for children. Enditem