Western Australia (WA) - surprising with the toughest anti-smoking laws in the nation but yet smokers can still smoke at some shopping malls ??

Perth - call for smoking to be banned in
city malls. Source: PerthNow

February 23, 2011 - Australian Council on Smoking and Health president Mike Daube has written to the City of Perth seeking its support for a ban on smoking in the malls. But Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi, a non-smoker, refused this week to back the plan, saying she would wait until a formal proposal came before the council. Prof Daube said he believed decision-makers now understood how harmful passive smoking was. "I think (banning smoking in the malls) would be a good idea because the vast majority of West Australians are non-smokers and it would be very attractive for them," he said. "I strongly support any move to protect non-smokers, especially in crowded areas such as shopping malls."

WA implemented the nation's toughest anti-smoking laws last year, banning smoking in cars with children, between the flags on beaches, in al fresco areas and within 10m of playgrounds. Prof Daube said smoking was already banned in Hobart's main shopping malls and a ban in Perth's major shopping hubs would be the next "logical step." (Congratulations Western Australia (WA) - September 22, 2010 stricter anti-smoking laws in effect..)

Passive Smoking: The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General - June 27, 2006; A Report of the Surgeon General: How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease: The Biology and Behavioral Basis for Smoking-Attributable Disease - December 9, 2010.

WA Cancer Council chief executive Susan Rooney said she supported Prof Daube's proposal. "These are the main thoroughfares through the city and a meeting place for people, so having them smoke-free would benefit the more than 85 per cent of the population who do not smoke," Ms Rooney said.

Smoking-related illnesses kill an estimated 1200 West Australians every year.

Reference: Call to ban smoking in city malls, Phil Hickey, PerthNow.com.au, 1/22/ 2011.

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