Isn a smoking ban an infringement of personal choice?
There is no intention to curb smokers’ personal choice to smoke. However, the choice of non-smokers must also be considered. The non-smoking population (73 per cent) have a right to choose to work, socialise and eat in a smoke-free environment. This is not just for reasons of comfort but very strong evidence on the health risks of passive smoking. Many smokers want to give up. Evidence shows that restrictions on smoking would help to reduce the number of active smokers as well as passive smokers. Other countries have seen a fall in smoking prevalence of 4 per cent.
