Smoking ban on the horizon
But will it go up in smoke?

By Hayeon Lee - NOW Lebanon
“[Having a] smoking area in restaurants is like having a peeing-allowed section in a swimming pool – it spreads,” wrote a member of a Facebook group advocating a ban on indoor smoking in public places in Lebanon. The group is growing larger by the day and as of press time has more than 14,600 members – many of whom post on the group’s wall regularly.

Lebanon occupies the 20th place on a list charting the yearly consumption of cigarettes per capita worldwide, and studies show that 3,500 Lebanese die from tobacco-related diseases a year, while 60% of Lebanese youth between 13 and 15 smoke.

Nonetheless, the debate on instituting a smoking ban in public places has been gaining ground in this country, and the number of proponents is growing. In response to the rising demand for a ban, several bars and restaurants in Gemmayzeh participated in two non-smoking nights last year. And last week saw the formation of an anti-tobacco civil society coalition, which includes the Tobacco Free Initiative – the only anti-tobacco NGO in Lebanon, founded in 2000 – and the Rotary Club.

And it’s not only civil society groups that are proponents of the change. The Ministry of Public Health’s National Tobacco Control Program has been campaigning on the issue since 2005, when Lebanon signed the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. More recently, the Justice and Administration Committee launched a series of discussions on a smoking ban on Monday. While Beirut MP Atef Majdalani, who is the head of the Parliamentarian Health Committee, is backing a 2006 draft law that requires designated non-smoking areas be set up in public establishments as a first step, the MoPH is pushing for a total ban.

Nevertheless, Dr. Georges Saadé, head of the National Tobacco Control Program, remains optimistic that Lebanon will have a law by May that bans all indoor smoking in public places in addition to prohibiting tobacco advertisements and requiring warning signs on cigarette boxes. “Now we have a mountain of evidence that secondhand smoking causes cancer and [other] diseases. And several studies show that the air quality is the same for places where smoking is allowed and where there are designated [smoking] areas,” Saadé told NOW.  

However, Lebanon’ smoker-friendly culture stands in the way of persuading the public to follow a ban.

“First I think we need to preserve what makes our Lebanon special in a world obsessed with rights... indoor smoking all the way,” writes one of 300 members of a Facebook group against banning public indoor smoking. “It’s ayb [shameful] in our culture to say no when someone asks to smoke,” concedes Saadé. 

Then there is the fear that a ban on indoor smoking would hurt businesses – a myth many Lebanese hold on to, according to Saadé. He notes that not a single study has proven an overall negative effect of a smoking ban on business. “Turkey, for example, saw a five percent increase in business profits one year after a smoking ban,” he said. And even if certain sectors, like arguileh – or water pipe – businesses may suffer, “The net effect of a smoking ban on indoor public places will be economically positive because a lot of money that gets tied down in health care, cleaning services, etc. can be used in a more productive way,” Thomas Schellen, publishing editor of Lebanon's Zaywa Industry Research, told NOW.

Paddy Cochrane, owner of two bars and one restaurant in Gemmayzeh, believes that a voluntary ban on smoking would hurt his businesses, but a mandatory one would not. “It’s not my job to tell a paying customer that they can’t come in and have a cigarette. I’m not their mother. But if there is a ban on smoking implemented by the government, most of the owners will be happy to support it. It’s not like raising taxes on alcohol,” he said.

Another question is what would happen if a smoking ban were actually passed. With Lebanon’s weak track record of enforcing any regulation, “I don’t see any great chance of implementation,” said Schellen. Saadé is also aware of the obstacles ahead. “Implementing the law will be very difficult. But we have to keep trying,” he said.

Cochrane also remains skeptical whether people would accept a smoking ban. “Everybody smokes in this country anyway, so passive [second-hand] smoking affects such a small percentage of the population. According to what I see in my bars, more than half are smoking.”

“For now,” said Tobacco Free Initiative President Nadine Kayrouz El-Krab, “we have to think first of working on the law.”