Jump to full article: Nassau Guardian (bs), 2006-07-07
Author: Laura Matthews, Guardian Staff Reporter
Intro: In fact, being a non-smoker in The Bahamas can seriously damage your health. So what can be done to avoid that smoker's cough, even though you have never picked up a cigarette in your life?
Well, the United States Surgeon-General Richard Carmona said last week that the only way to control second-hand smoking is to ban it from all public places. . . .
To put the smoking dilemma into a regional context, The Bahamas is not the only Caribbean country facing the problem. Jamaica is developing legislation on tobacco control in keeping with its commitments under the 2003 WHO Framework Convention.
Knox E. Hagley, Chairman of Jamaica Coalition for Tobacco Control, told The Gleaner in 2004, that "large population-based control studies have demonstrated increased risks of about 20 per cent for developing lung cancer among non-smokers, who have had prolonged exposure to cigarette smoke."
He added: "Indeed, the development of heart disease and other smoking-related diseases among such people led to the conclusion that passive smoking is a public health hazard." . . .
Cigarette companies don't see it that way. The Carreras Group, the major tobacco producer in Jamaica, believes that "claims made against environmental smoke were overstated."
The company added: "[We do not] believe that passive smoking had been shown to cause chronic diseases such as lung cancer or cardio-vascular disease."
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