Shopping centres allowing smoking at entrances

We all know what the effects of passive smoking are and yet in 2013 you can't access any major shopping centre entrance without passing through cigarette smoke.

 

Today, at a major shopping centre in Melbourne we endured cigarette smoke whilst entering and leaving the complex. A cigarette tray was affixed next to a doorway (supplied by the shopping centre). This was 1 metre away from a doorway and 1 metre away from a pedestrian zebra crossing which leads to the entrance. How ridiculous is this?  Young children, pregnant women and elderly use the crossing to enter the complex including my wife and I. Shopping centres are private property and they can ban smoking on their land if they want to but they have not. Why not?

 

50 metres away there was a childrens playground with smoking permitted on the fenceline. How ridiculous is this?

 

The sign read "No smoking within 5 metres".   Which means smoking is permitted as much you like after 5 metres. Guess what? The fenceline of the playground is after the 5 metres. Silly or what?

 

Next time you visit your shopping centre please observe these silly ashtrays next to doorways and make yourself heard. I have reported this to centre management and will continue to do so until it is changed. Please do the same.

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Re: Shopping centres allowing smoking at entrances

For those of you who insist that no evidence exists about how damaging smoking and passive smoking is - here is some info from the Department of Health, Victoria:

Introduction:

As smoking rates in Victoria continue to decline, it is clear that policy approaches adopted here have been successful and will continue to significantly reduce the harms caused by smoking.

Community support for tobacco control:

In August 2008, a public consultation was undertaken to hear community views on the next steps for tobacco control in Victoria. A large number of submissions were received from the general public and other stakeholders, including the health sector and tobacco industry. The consultation found substantial support for legislative reforms, particularly those which protect children from the dangers of environmental tobacco smoke and which reduced the likelihood of youth smoking initiation:

In August 2009, the Victorian Parliament passed amendments:

    banning point of sale displays in retail outlets (effective 1 January 2011);
    banning smoking in cars carrying children under 18 years of age (effective 1 January 2010);
    banning the sale of cigarettes from temporary outlets (effective 1 January 2010);
    providing the Minister with the power to ban youth-orientated tobacco products and packages (effective 1 January 2010);
    banning smoking on Government school grounds (effective 1 July 2009).

 
Smoking prevalence:

    Regular smoking prevalence among Victorian adults has declined from 21.6 per cent in 1999 to 15.3 per cent in 2010.
    More than 90 per cent of Australians who currently smoke began as teenagers. In 2002 in Victoria, 17 per cent of 12-17 year old secondary students were current smokers. This rate was significantly higher amongst 16 and 17 year olds with 33 per cent of 16 year old females and 30 per cent of 17 year old males being current smokers.

Health impacts of smoking:

    Smoking is the largest contributor to preventable death in Australia and is known to increase the risk of lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and many other illnesses.
    In 1998, smoking caused around 4,750 deaths in Victoria. That equals 90 Victorians every week or about 13 per day. If we compare this to other causes of death in the same year, on average:
        illicit drugs killed 5 Victorians every week
        road accidents killed 8 Victorians every week
        alcohol killed 16 Victorians every week.
    Half of all long-term smokers will die prematurely, of these half will die in middle age. Smokers are more than three times more likely than non-smokers to die in middle age.
    Smokers are four times more likely than non-smokers to suffer a heart attack before the age of 40. Most people who die due to heart disease in their 40s or 50s are smokers.
    Long-term smokers suffer more disease and disability at younger ages before they die. On average they suffer reduced quality of life for a greater number of years than non-smokers.
    At least 60 of the chemicals in tobacco smoke are known to cause cancer. Smoking causes cancer of the lung, throat, mouth, bladder and kidneys. Tobacco smoke also contributes to a number of other cancers and causes heart disease, stroke and emphysema.

Environmental tobacco smoke:

    Non-smokers who suffer long-term exposure to environmental tobacco smoke have a 20 to 30 per cent higher risk of developing lung cancer than non-smokers who are not exposed. Exposure to high levels of environmental tobacco smoke has been found to increase the risk of heart disease by 50 to 60 per cent.

    There is increasing evidence that exposure to environmental tobacco smoke can increase the risk of stroke and nose and sinus cancer among non-smokers.

    In 1998/9, 48 Victorians died as a result of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. 38 per cent of these deaths were among children aged 14 years and under.

    Surveys of Victorian workers show that employees in hospitality venues are more likely to work in smoky areas than those in other industries. These venues also tend to have higher levels of tobacco smoke than other workplaces. As a result, hospitality workers are more likely to suffer from health problems such as wheezing, coughing, sore eyes and sore throats.

    About 40 per cent of Australian children are exposed to tobacco smoke at home.
    Children are especially vulnerable to the damaging effects of environmental tobacco smoke:
        Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke is a risk factor in sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS or cot death).
        A child who lives in a smoking household for the first 18 months of its life has an increased risk (around 60 per cent higher) of developing a range of respiratory illnesses including croup, bronchitis, bronchiolitis and pneumonia. They are also more prone to getting colds, coughs and glue ear (middle ear infections). Their lungs show a reduced ability to function and slower growth.
        A child exposed to tobacco smoke in the home is 40 per cent more likely to develop asthma symptoms. Estimates suggest that about 8 per cent of childhood asthma cases are caused by environmental tobacco smoke.
        A non-smoking pregnant woman is more likely to give birth to a baby with a slightly lower birth weight if she is exposed to smoke in the home - for example, if her partner smokes.

Cost to business, governments & the community:

    Tobacco smoking costs Victoria about $5.05 billion each year. Of those costs, 31.6 per cent are tangible costs (e.g. absenteeism, health care, fires) and 68.4 per cent are intangible costs (e.g. loss of life).
    Hospital costs arising from passive smoking totaled $11.4 million. 94 per cent of these costs are attributable to patients in the 0-14 age group who suffer conditions attributable to passive smoking such as low birthweight, sudden infant death syndrome, asthma and lower respiratory illness.

    Victoria bears 24 per cent of the total Australian social costs of smoking. Smoking in Victoria costs residents about $4.3 billion each year. Businesses bear about
    $494 million and governments bear about $207 million in costs each year.

    Expenditure on tobacco (up to $50 a week for each pack-a-day smoker) impoverishes low-income households, reducing funds available for many other purposes.

Smoking & pregnancy:

    Australian data indicates that about 20 per cent of women smoke during pregnancy, although this percentage appears to be going down. Smoking can seriously affect the developing foetus. Health risks include:
        increased risk of miscarriage and stillbirth.
        increased risk of premature birth and low birth weight.

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Smoking & pregnancy:

    Australian data indicates that about 20 per cent of women smoke during pregnancy, although this percentage appears to be going down. Smoking can seriously affect the developing foetus. Health risks include:
        increased risk of miscarriage and stillbirth.
        increased risk of premature birth and low birth weight.

_______________________________________________________________________

 

In 1970 when I was pregnant, because I was small, the doctors advised me

to keep smoking so that I would have a small baby!!!!

 

I finally gave up smoking in 2007

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@nevynreally wrote:

So excessive perfume wouldn't do you much good either. Shame that isn't banned from shopping centres.

And from some women who think that more will net a better man.

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Re: Shopping centres allowing smoking at entrances

My little bit. 

Aren't "smoking rooms" a problem because of OH&S?  Some employee has to go in there and clean it and empty dirty ashtrays etc.  That's my understanding of it anyway.

 

And the smoking room at Changi(?) airport is disgusting.  You can smell it from quite a distance away.

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Re: Shopping centres allowing smoking at entrances

I would imagine cleaning public toilets to be more of a health hazard, but 'm not sure I've seen many smoking areas inside, arent they usually open air places?

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Re: Shopping centres allowing smoking at entrances

windrake
Community Member

The smoking nazis have not mentioned underground carparks filled with deadly car fumes. All this about "passive" smoking is junk science & peddled by the anti smoking lobby.

 

I am not a smoker & I am not a gullible fool either.

 

Let's target something else in society that's real and fatal, we can see it and it's deadly: drunkeness that results in more harm, violence  & death than smoking ever did.

 

 

 

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Does it have to be an either/or issue?  Can't people be concerned about both?

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Re: Shopping centres allowing smoking at entrances

We like to go to a pub down the bay. It has an outside sitting area on the footpath with tables, chairs and shade thingies. I would really like to sit out there drinking my beer when the weather is nice but I can't because all the smokers sit there and you get smoked alive if you dare to sit between them.

That area is NOT a designated smokers corner, just a normal sit-outside area of the pub.

 

I would like to see the smoking ban extended onto such areas.

 

I don't mind if other people smoke but I do mind when they intrude my breathing space with their stink.

 

I don't care what other people do or don't as long as they leave me alone with their habits.

 

I have never have a drug addict throw used needles at me nor do other beer drinkers throw their beer at me so I would like smokers to do the same and keep their stink to themselves (which means smoking where they don't harass others with their stink).

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@windrake wrote:

The smoking nazis have not mentioned underground carparks filled with deadly car fumes. All this about "passive" smoking is junk science & peddled by the anti smoking lobby.

 

I am not a smoker & I am not a gullible fool either.

 

Let's target something else in society that's real and fatal, we can see it and it's deadly: drunkeness that results in more harm, violence  & death than smoking ever did.

 

 

 


Guess what? Asthma can be fatal and it can also lead to being in ICU for days at a time.

 

I don't know anything about passive smoking and I am not talking about that, I am talking about breathing in the smoke from people near me and that smoke causing an asthma attack.

 

Isn't asthma fatal enought for you?

 

How fatal does fatal have to be before you are concerned about it.

 

(BTW my sister insists I get out of the car at the front door of where ever we are going because she doesn't like be being in the carpark, I would like t think that it is a concern form my health but fear it might be because of all the "how much longer is this going to take" she has to put up with)

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Re: Shopping centres allowing smoking at entrances


@kennedia_nigricans wrote:

We like to go to a pub down the bay. It has an outside sitting area on the footpath with tables, chairs and shade thingies. I would really like to sit out there drinking my beer when the weather is nice but I can't because all the smokers sit there and you get smoked alive if you dare to sit between them.

That area is NOT a designated smokers corner, just a normal sit-outside area of the pub.

 

I would like to see the smoking ban extended onto such areas.

 

I don't mind if other people smoke but I do mind when they intrude my breathing space with their stink.

 

I don't care what other people do or don't as long as they leave me alone with their habits.

 

I have never have a drug addict throw used needles at me nor do other beer drinkers throw their beer at me so I would like smokers to do the same and keep their stink to themselves (which means smoking where they don't harass others with their stink).


I am in NSW and all outdoor eating areas are now smoke free so if in NSW tell you friendly publican that his customers needed to be informed that they cannot smoke in the area.

 

I suspect other states might be different.

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