Tobacco.org

Smokers fume over latest step to extend tobacco ban 

The authorities in Dubai are planning to expand the ban on smoking in public to more areas including parks and beaches in addition to the current restriction on smoking in shopping malls.

The ban will form the next phase of the municipality's smoking regulation enforcement, which has so far covered hotels, restaurants and cafes, malls and sports halls.

Smoking in parks will be banned, because they house many family areas, including children's playgrounds. While many residents welcomed the move, smokers voiced their concern asking for designated areas for smoking in all public places.

Gulf News took to the streets and asked a cross-section of residents for their take on the ban on smoking in public places and whether they thought people should be banned from smoking in their cars. . . .

"It's a free world and you can't stop people smoking. It's a personal choice and banning smoking outdoors is an infringement on civil liberties. I also think this latest step will be difficult to enforce."

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Dubai to stub out smoking in public parks  

The ban on public smoking will be extended to parks, a Dubai Municipality official said.

Ahmad Al Shammari, Acting Director of the Public Health Department of the municipality, said: "Our next target will be public parks."

The ban will form the next phase of the municipality's smoking regulation enforcement, which has covered hotels, restaurants and cafes, malls and sports halls to date.

Smoking in public parks will be banned, because there are many family areas, including children's playgrounds

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Dh1,000 fine for smoking in Dubai malls 

The municipalitymunicipality has said fine for smoking in Dubai malls are likely to be imposed in September.

The Dh1,000 fine can be slapped by Dubai Police, if smokers do not put out their cigarettes in malls when asked to by security guards.

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• DM fines 25 restaurants for violating smoking curbs 

As many as 25 restaurants in the emirate have been slapped with fines ranging between Dh5,000 and Dh10,000 for violating the smoking regulations in public places, Salem bin Mesmar, Assistant Director-General for Health, Safety and Environment Control at the Dubai Municipality, said yesterday.

Although there is a list of fines for individuals violating the regulations, none of them caught flouting the curbs has been fined so far.

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DM to rope in sports stars to help stub out smoking 

All private and public sports clubs and stadiums in the emirate will become 'smoke free' from September this year, Ahmad Saad Al Shareef, secretary-general of the Dubai Sports Council (DSC), said.

Further, smoking will also be banned in sports activity halls, sports goods shops and amusement and games centres, he said.

Speaking on the sidelines of a function held to mark the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the council and the Dubai Municipality, Shareef said both the bodies would initiate steps through which smoking could be completely curbed in stadiums, sports clubs and other sports-related outlets and centres.

Hussain Nasser Lootah, Acting Director-General of the municipality, said with the youth brigade idolising famous personalities, they would be roping in popular local and international sports stars to

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Inquiry into biggest cigarette racket under way  

The Customs Preventive Division is conducting an inquiry into the smuggling of cigarettes from Dubai valued at Rs. 16.4 million. According to customs sources this was the biggest detection this year.

Statements were recorded from the travellers whose names appeared on the packages and the air cargo company which handled the consignment, said Assistant Director, Customs Preventive Division, K. A. Dharmasena.

He said that those whose names were mentioned on the packages denied any knowledge of these items.

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Tobacco sale to minors: Law goes up in smoke 

Dubai Despite the ban on selling tobacco to minors, groceries and supermarkets continue to openly flout the rules, XPRESS has discovered.

After Dubai Municipality issued a public notice last week banning sale of tobacco to those under the age of 20, XPRESS took to the streets with a 16-year-old volunteer, Mohammad Al Madani, to find out if the rules were really being adhered to.

The results were surprising.

Of the seven groceries and supermarkets surveyed, four were found flouting the law.

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Thumbs down to smoking 

The UAE earnestly embraced the global war against smoking on World No Tobacco Day yesterday by announcing that it would target youth, implement curbs and set up clinics to assist smokers to kick the butt.

While Dubai -- which has already banned smoking in enclosed public places -- yesterday imposed curbs on shops from selling tobacco products including cigarettes to youth below 20 years, Sharjah geared up to implement the ban on smoking from today.

The Ministry of Health (MoH), meanwhile, announced that setting up smoking cessation clinics across the emirates is at the forefront of its fight against smoking which, according to estimates, is a habit of 48 per cent of the people in the UAE.

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• Supermarkets to comply with U-20 tobacco ban 

While supermarket chains in the emirate yesterday said they would comply with the Dubai Municipality directive not to sell tobacco products to people below 20 years, smaller groceries expressed fears that refusal to sell cigarettes to youth could result in ugly scenes at the outlets.

Salem Mesmar, Assistant Director-General of the Health, Safety and Environmental Monitoring Section at the municipality, had told Khaleej Times earlier that the outlets found selling these products to underage people would be fined. The shops have been given the liberty to ask for an age proof from any customer whom they suspect to be underage.

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• Dubai bans sale of cigarettes to under 20s 

The Gulf emirate of Dubai on Saturday banned the sale of tobacco to anyone under the age of 20 with immediate effect and barred young people from public areas in which smoking is allowed.

The announcement was made in public advertisements in Arabic-language newspapers as part of a "Youth Without Tobacco" campaign.

A spokesman for Dubai municipality told AFP that cigarette vendors and managers of public places such as cafes and restaurants have been instructed to ask clients for proof of identity even to smoke water pipes.

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Suffolk | Customs seize 18m fake cigarettes 

Nearly 18m counterfeit cigarettes were seized at Felixstowe

About 18 million counterfeit cigarettes have been seized by customs staff at a Suffolk container port.

The haul was found in two containers from Dubai, described as disposable plastic goods, and HM Revenue and Customs spokesman said.

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Gulfnews: Grocery stores ignore warnings on cigarette sales to youngsters 

Dubai: Parents of teenagers have called for stricter municipal checks on grocery stores as many youngsters are able to buy cigarettes there despite a tobacco ban for under 21s.

Parents have said 10-year-old children or younger smoking in public is a common sight. They have said there is an urgent need for regular municipal inspections on neighbourhood grocery stores.

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Curbs on smoking in hotels come into force 

The third phase of the smoking regulations in public places instituted by the Dubai Municipality -- this time in hotels and hotel apartments -- came into effect yesterday.

Most of the hotels had already made arrangements to comply with the curbs though some said they had expected the implementation to come later in the year.

The Dubai Municipality yesterday announced the third phase which calls for smoking regulations in the hotels and hotel apartments.

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• Hotels unsure about how to ban smoking 

Although the smoking ban in hotels came into force on Tuesday, hotel managers said that they were still waiting for the final word from Dubai Municipality.

"We have so far had a draft for regulating smoking but no final word. We don't know how to implement it," said Ashwin Singh, General Manager of Dhow Palace Hotel in Bur Dubai.

However, he said that they had already imposed a smoking ban in some restaurants and the lobby.

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Smoking ban violation attracts Dh1,000 fine 

Dubai: Fines for smokers who light up in no-smoking areas have been revised to Dh1,000 from the earlier Dh500, said a senior official on Thursday.

"We have sent a proposal to the legal department to revise fines for violators [of] smoking regulations set by the Dubai Municipality," said Salem Bin Mesmar, Director of the Public Health Department at the Municipality.

The fines for individuals may range from Dh1,000 to Dh8,000 while establishments may face fines from Dh10,000 to Dh80,000 for not adhering to smoking regulations, he said.

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