| 30 Oct 2009 |
|
Beirut's smoke-free night draws widespread public support
- Text size
30 October 2009
BEIRUT: It’s Wednesday night in Gemmayzeh, and busy too: blue clouds loiter above large groups of revelers, bunched up outside clubs and bars on what is usually a quiet night for Beirut’s party hub.
Despite the crowds, inside the majority of the many venues the air tonight is unusually clear – because on October 28 there “Ain’t no smoking” in Gemmayzeh.
Some 35 clubs, bars and restaurants throughout the street took part in “Ain’t No Smoking night;” a Rotaract Club initiative to encourage venues to consider regular smoke-free nights, and raise public awareness about the risks of second-hand smoke.
One of the Rotaract Club’s organizers, Patrick, said the objective of the campaign was to give nonsmokers comfortable places to go out and enjoy themselves without having to breathe in second hand smoke.
“It is about rights for nonsmokers” he said, “We hope some of these bars will adopt a weekly nonsmoking night to attract more nonsmokers to the area.”
Abbas, another Rotaract organizer, said that many more pubs and restaurants have participated in the event compared to the last one they threw and noted that lots of people had turned up especially for the smoke-free event. Abbas also said that they have “even found many smokers to be encouraging of this idea and giving us their support!”
Carmen and Mira, two regular smokers standing outside “Mue” agreed with Abbas.
“We think it’s a good idea. We don’t have to suffer the second hand smoke of others,” said the pair. “Even though we smoke ourselves it’s good to get away from such a smoky environment. We hope a permanent ban happens, like many European countries.”
Another smoker added: “It means fewer people will smoke, especially the youngsters.”
However, not everyone on Gemmayzeh agreed.
“I should have the freedom to smoke where I want. If they want to improve people’s health they should install better ventilation systems,” said Rashad, a regular smoker.
It is not just the patrons that hold strong opinions on the issue.
“Personally I hate smoking but our bar cannot afford to force its customers not to smoke on the premises. Wednesday is our busiest night and people do not like change,” said Tony, from the Melting Pot – one of the few bars not participating in the smoke-free night.
“A lot of our customers are heavy smokers and it would be very harmful for business to overlook that fact,” he added.
Not all business owners agreed with Tony’s sentiments. Abir from Olio said that she thought the night was a good initiative.
“Most places in Gemmayzeh don’t have good ventilation and after a long night it can get very annoying breathing in lots of smoke,” she said. “A lot more people would go out if smoking was banned as they would feel more comfortable not having to breathe in passive smoke.”
However, she also noted that considering Lebanon’s strong views on the matter, a ban would be highly unlikely to occur any time within the next five years, at least.
While there were definitely mixed opinions on the subject, most people seemed to enjoy themselves.
In a country known for its heavy consumption of tobacco, most people seemed to adapt to the smoke-free night well and no one tried to break the rules.
The smoke-free bars packed to weekend capacity suggest there may be hope yet for a smoke-free Lebanon. However, for the time being at least, initiatives like this are the closest nonsmokers are going to get.
© Copyright The Daily Star 2009.
x
DISCLAIMER
Zawya is a distributor (and not a publisher) of content supplied by third parties and subscribers. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers, or other information or content expressed or made available by those third parties, including information providers, subscribers or other users of the Service, are those of the respective author(s) or distributor(s) and not of the Company. The Company neither endorses nor is responsible for the accuracy or reliability of any opinion, advice or statement made on the Service by anyone other than authorized Service employee spokespersons while acting in their official capacities. The Company is not responsible for any infringement of intellectual property rights or breach of any applicable law or regulation, including regulation in relation to financial services or the distribution of financial products, defamation, data protection, telecommunications (including regulations relating to excessive use, spamming or other abusive activities) or obscene, offensive or illegal content). Under no circumstances will the Company be liable for any loss or damage caused by a member's reliance on information obtained through the Service. It is the responsibility of member to evaluate the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, opinion, advice or other content available through the Service. Please seek the advice of professionals, as appropriate, regarding the evaluation of any specific information, opinion, advice or other content.
Read the full Member Agreement
http://www.zawya.com/legal/NewsLetter.cfm?name=disclaimer
Zawya is a distributor (and not a publisher) of content supplied by third parties and subscribers. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers, or other information or content expressed or made available by those third parties, including information providers, subscribers or other users of the Service, are those of the respective author(s) or distributor(s) and not of the Company. The Company neither endorses nor is responsible for the accuracy or reliability of any opinion, advice or statement made on the Service by anyone other than authorized Service employee spokespersons while acting in their official capacities. The Company is not responsible for any infringement of intellectual property rights or breach of any applicable law or regulation, including regulation in relation to financial services or the distribution of financial products, defamation, data protection, telecommunications (including regulations relating to excessive use, spamming or other abusive activities) or obscene, offensive or illegal content). Under no circumstances will the Company be liable for any loss or damage caused by a member's reliance on information obtained through the Service. It is the responsibility of member to evaluate the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, opinion, advice or other content available through the Service. Please seek the advice of professionals, as appropriate, regarding the evaluation of any specific information, opinion, advice or other content.
Read the full Member Agreement
http://www.zawya.com/legal/NewsLetter.cfm?name=disclaimer
Access to this article is subject to specific terms and condition.
Post a Comment
1.1 Contain any material which is libelous or defamatory of any person, is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory or causes damage to the reputation of any person or organisation.
1.2 Promote sexually explicit material, violence, discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age or any illegal activity.
1.3 Be made in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence.
1.4 Be threatening, abuse or invade another's privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety.
1.5 Be used to impersonate any person, to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person, or be likely to deceive any person.
1.6 Give the impression that they represent Zawya.
1.7 Advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse.