Most of the public believe that the government is acting too slowly to reduce smoking in public places, according to research.
Fifty four per cent of respondents to a Mori poll said that the government needed to do more to stamp out smoking in public places – including workplaces: 27% disagreed.
Almost seven in ten (68%) of the UK public believe that pub staff should be protected from second-hand smoke at work, according to the survey of more than 2,000 people carried out for the British Medical Association.
BMA chairman, James Johnson, urged the new health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, to ban smoking in all enclosed public places immediately, and protect the rights of employees to work in an environment that does not damage their health.
“It is clear that the majority of the public believe that the right to work in a healthy environment is more important than the right to smoke,” he said. “As doctors we see the deadly effects of second-hand smoke every day.”
