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Four years after smoking was banned from indoor public places, outdoor venues such as open air restaurants and bars, have become the natural smoking zones, and it may be time to consider whether these too should become smoke-free.
Joe Gerada, the chief executive officer of the Foundation for Social Welfare Services, explained to maltastar.com that the European Commission's proposed new regulations to increase tax on tobacco is a move in the right direction, as studies show that higher prices of tobacco will lead to lower consumption. The Commission says that if the new legislation is introduced, smoking across the EU will decrease by 10% in the next five years.
The proposed regulations will see prices of cigarettes in Malta rise by at least 8.1% by 2014. Other countries will see a sharper hike in cigarette prices, as unlike Malta, their current tax rates are much lower than the newly proposed minimum rates.
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The World Health Organisation's Health Behaviour in School-age Children shows that smoking in Malta among 15-year-olds is on the increase.
A new approach will be taken to warning youngsters away from tobacco as the number of teenage smokers in Malta continues to rise.
According to a study by the World Health Organisation, the number of 15-year-old boys who smoke has gone up to 40.2 per cent in 2006 from 37.6 per cent in 2001/2002. . . .
A ban on smoking in public places came into force in 2005 and the advertising of cigarettes has been made illegal. Now the department is working on pictorials for cigarette packets, he said.
Another initiative of the department is the Quit and Win competition that encourages smokers to stop smoking and win prizes, said Anne Buttigieg, senior occupational therapist at the department.
In October 2004, smoking was banned in all enclosed public spaces, including public transportation, clubs and restaurants, although smoking areas are allowed.
Between October and December 2004, 45 people were charged in court for breaching the smoking regulations. There has since been a steady increase in the number of infringements, as 230 people were charged in 2005, 776 in 2006, going up to 1,275 people who were caught breaching the law in 2007. Between January and April of this year, 560 people have been charged in court.
The introduction of the smoking ban had not been easily accepted.
Anthony Bartolo, 47, of Qormi was arraigned in court and charged with trying to seriously injuring Alexander Taliana at Incognito Bar and Restaurant in Bugibba last Sunday.
Mr Taliana asked the accused to stop smoking in the bar or leave but Bartolo started a fight and tried to hit him with a flick knife.
The Malta Standards Authority has warned that illegal, non-refillable cigarette lighters, called novelty lighters, are available for sale from different retail outlets around the Maltese Islands even though they are dangerous.
The European Commission in May 2006 had banned the sale of such lighters because they are unsafe, particularly children.
The Malta Standards Authority insists that hundreds of cigarette lighters have to be withdrawn from the market over concerns they could appeal to children.
A number of illegal, non-refillable cigarette lighters, termed novelty lighters, are available for sale from different retail outlets around the Maltese Islands.
The EU's Help! For a Life without Tobacco anti-smoking campaign was very busy during the month of September. In order to continue with the awareness and educational campaign, together with the other EU member countries, the EU Help campaign took to the streets of Paceville and joined the youths on Friday night.
No sooner was the stand pitched up that youths, adolescents and adults alike came to see what was being offered. Both Maltese and tourists visited the stand. The Health Promotion Department facilitators carried out the CO tests and information and promotional material was given out and as always advise on how to quit.
British American Tobacco Malta moved to new premises in Qormi. General Manager Ronnie Abela said "We moved to new modern premises in a central location, following the Central Cigarette factory closure. This is a new beginning for us, however British American Tobacco has been in Malta for a hundred years."
The premises were officially opened by the Minister for Investment, Industry and Information Technology Dr. Austin Gatt, on 30th July, in the presence of BAT's Director, Stephan Liechti.
British American Tobacco (BAT) Malta has moved to new premises in Qormi.
"We moved to new modern premises in a central location, following the Central Cigarette factory closure," general manager Ronnie Abela said. "This is a new beginning for us, however British American Tobacco has been in Malta for a hundred years."
In a European Union report about attitudes towards tobacco, published in 2007 both positive and negative outcomes resulted. The positive aspect that was reported was that four out of five Europeans believed that passive smoking could cause health problems.
The need for the Maltese population to adopt a non-smoking policy within the home and car environment was still high. This was because 23 per cent of non-smokers were exposed to tobacco smoke in the home while 16 per cent of children were exposed to tobacco in a car environment.
Malta and Hungary were the only two countries where the number of people who believed that cancer may result from passive smoking had gone down over the past two years, according to a recent Eurobarometer study entitled Attitudes of Europeans towards Tobacco.
According to the report, all the countries, apart from Hungary and Malta, recorded that a higher number of people believe that passive smoking may cause cancer. In the UK, the proportion of those who thought that cancer could be a result of passive smoking remained the same.
Malta, however, fared better in other aspects of the report, ranking third with 57 per cent of respondents saying they never smoked.
Portugal came first, with 64 per cent of people saying they never smoked, followed by Slovakia with 59 per cent.
Despite the well-publicised harmful effects of smoking, in many cases resulting in premature death, almost a third of the Maltese population are smokers.
According to our latest survey, 29.7 per cent of the population smoke . . .
A majority of our respondents think that the anti-smoking laws are being generally observed. However, almost 70 per cent are convinced that they are ignored in bars and restaurants. In fact, although the defiance of the ban in these establishments is widespread, one hears of very few offenders being taken to court by the police.
Random inspections should be carried out at these places by plainclothes police, but not only these places - workplaces too should be subject to such inspections. The dangers of passive smoking cannot be underestimated, yet
Malta has a very serious problem with smoking: 29.7% of all Maltese declared they are smokers. Although there are more male smokers than females, women are even heavier smokers than men. These are two of the most striking findings of the latest opinion survey conducted by sociologist Mario Vassallo for The Sunday Times.
The survey was carried out by telephone among 300 households in Malta and Gozo between April 9 and 15.
Smokers come from all the segments of Maltese society, irrespective of age, gender and social class. The highest percentage are to be found in the 36-50 (35.6%) age bracket. And it does not look like the habit is being dropped by the young: those aged 16-25 registered a rather high 31.9%.
Smoking is very widespread in Malta, even though the overwhelming majority of the Maltese (70.3%) said that at present they do not smoke. But the rest, 29.7%, engage in it.
Smokers are present in all the categories of society, irrespective of age, gender and social class. In the total population, there are more male smokers (32.9%) than female (26.5%). The highest percentages of smokers are to be found in the 36-50 (35.6%) age bracket (26-35: 33.3%; 51-61: 23.5%) while the oldest respondents (65+: 21.3%) register the lowest incidence of smoking. The youngest age group made up of those aged 16-25 registered a rather high 31.9%.
The highest percentage of those who smoke belong to the DE (33.3%) and C1 (31.3%) categories; a much lower percentage was registered among smokers who hail from the highest socio-economic category (AB: 23.3%). Within the C2 category, smokers amount to 27.7%.
339 Maltese and Gozitan residents died from smoking between January and November 2006, said Minister of Health Louis Deguara in parliament on. 100 of the deaths occurred to women.
The Minister was replying to a parliamentary question set forward by Member of Parliament (MP) Carmelo Abela. By October 2006, Malta had already registered 282 deaths which were directly or indirectly related to smoking. The figures were obtained from the National Deaths Registry.