Living with smokers

Bad news keeps rising the domain of cigarette smoking. For example, a recent study of non-smoking women who were exposed to their husbands' cigarette smoke says that living with a cigarette smoker increases the risk of lung cancer by at least 30 percent in non-smokers. The effect may be comparatively small compared to the risk of lung cancer in smokers, but it is a risk that can at least be reduced by a change in their husbands habits.

According to an article written by scientists which appeared in the recent issue of Journal of the American Medical Association, smokers have an increased risk of lung cancer. In smokers, the risk of attracting this cancer is ten to twelve times higher than in non-smokers. We hope these findings will act as an effective warning to smokers and to government leaders around the world that there is a strong and unfavorable link between passive smoking and cancer -- not to mention other killers such as heart disease.

Every day there is an increasing number of people who try to make our planet a better place to live in, and the world's attention to the danger of smoking has increased. Public attitudes regarding the social acceptability of smoking have also changed. In many countries smoking on board airplanes has been banned on domestic flights.

In Jakarta, the municipal administration designated elementary and secondary schools as non-smoking areas three years ago and, reportedly, Land Transportation Agency authorities are currently preparing a regulation to ban smoking in public transportation vehicles throughout the country. Although this step comes a little late -- as we are in many cases concerning the public welfare -- one thing is certain: The public, which has long been suffering due to the poor conditions on our public buses, expects legal protection to come into effect soon.

The radical concept of making buses a safe and clean environment for the passengers came after the public anger was provoked by the death of 33 people, when a city bus plunged into a river in North Jakarta last March. But how about smoking in buses and in other public places? Must we wait for another disaster before we act to make those places more comfortable and to make those who enter them feel a little more respected.

Non-smokers have a right to be protected against the inconvenience caused by smokers but the authorities do not seem to think there is any urgency for such a ban. The reason behind their apparent reluctance is not clear, although we are sure the authorities must be well aware of the inconvenience and hazard of tobacco smoke to passive smokers.

In any case we believe that the government needs to give a little more thought to this problem. Many people believe that the authorities' reluctance to move against the habit of smoking in public places is out of concern that they might drastically reduce their state tax revenues from tobacco. However, this argument is no longer valid considering the constantly mounting evidence that smoking is bad for smokers and non-smokers alike. Tobacco taxes may be an important source of revenue for the government, but what about the social cost which society has to pay? The Jakarta administration, which is celebrating the 467th anniversary of the city's founding next week is in the best position to spearhead such a positive step.