BMA Wales delighted with Assembly committee's smoking conclusions

May 10 2005

Welsh Secretary of the BMA Dr Richard Lewis was delighted that the National Assembly's Committee on Smoking in Public Places has recommended a complete ban in Wales.

"This is a landmark day for health professionals. For years, doctors have been saying that passive smoking kills innocent people. They have been treating people suffering from tobacco related diseases on a daily basis and felt powerless to stop the cause. An Assembly committee - having heard evidence from a whole range of interested parties - has now come to the same conclusion. Hopefully, the Assembly in plenary will now accept this report in its entirety and endorse its conclusion,

"This is a wide ranging report, and I congratulate the members for their detailed work. Pressure from organisations with a vested interest in increasing tobacco sales has been enormous, but the committee members rejected their spurious arguments.

"BMA Cymru Wales has been lobbying hard on this issue for a number of years. Banning smoking in public places - which includes the workplace - would be the greatest public health act that any government could do," added Dr Lewis. "It would have a huge impact on the health of the people of Wales.

"In March, we took a petition signed by over 10,000 people from across Wales calling for a ban to 10 Downing Street. The Welsh public wants a ban. The BMA wants a ban. The Assembly wants a ban. Having read this report, who could possibly be against it?

"There is incontrovertible evidence that passive smoking kills, and yet it is still legal for tobacco smoke to be produced in enclosed public places to which the public has access. The sooner it's banned the better.

"We shall now be concentrating our efforts on persuading Welsh MPs to vote for the clause in the English Public Health Bill that will allow the National Assembly to ban smoking in public places.