Designated smoking areas violate non-smokers’ rights: Study

Staff Reporter :
Provision of designated smoking areas (DSAs) in hotels, restaurants, and trains has been ineffective, rendering non-smokers widely vulnerable to becoming victims of secondhand smoke.
A study conducted on 118 residential hotels and 355 restaurants in Dhaka city, and 53 active passenger trains passing through Dhaka station, has come up with such findings. Among the 526 venues contacted successfully, only 41 (8 percent) venues had a DSA.
However, none of these 41 DSAs were fully compliant with all measures required by the tobacco control law. The study titled “Prevalence and Compliance of Designated Smoking Areas (DSAs) in Hospitality Venues and Transportation in Dhaka, Bangladesh” was conducted jointly by John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress) in 2022. The study findings were unveiled today at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon of the capital during an event titled ” Building a Tobacco-free Bangladesh: Local and Global Evidence Sharing”, organized by Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids (CTFK), PROGGA and VOICE. Another, findings from a separate study on tobacco industry ill tactics, conducted by VOICE with support from CTFK, was also shared during the event.
 In the presentation done by PRGGGA on DSA issue, it was informed that only 18 of the 118 residential hotels sampled in the study had a DSA. In 07 (seven) of those 18 hotels, DSAs were not physically separated from the non-smoking area. 07 hotels required patrons to cross the DSAs to reach the services. Notably, the existing tobacco control law requires DSAs to be physically separated from the non-smoking areas. 17 of those hotels did not have required signage indicating that the space is a smoking area, as required by the law. In the 53 train rides sampled in the study, only 21 had DSAs. However, among those 21, 07 (seven) sold services (such as food, drinks etc.) inside the DSAs, making non-smokers potential victims of secondhand smoke while using those services.
Kazi Zebunnessa Begum, Additional Secretary (World Health Wing), Health Services Division, said, “I hope the tobacco control law will soon be revamped and amended, which also include the elimination of the provision for DSAs. Thus, we can pave the way for the emergence of a tobacco-free Bangladesh.”
 Jaspreet Kaur Pal, Principal Consultant, South Asia Communications of CTFK, said, ‘The study did not find a single DSA fully compliant with the law. So, DSAs are not enforceable in the non-smoking areas.”
 Among those present in the event were Hossain Ali Khondoker, Coordinator (Additional Secretary), National Tobacco Control Cell (NTCC), Md. Mostafizur Rahman, Lead Policy Advisor, CTFK Bangladesh, and representatives of a number of anti-tobacco organizations.