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MPATT backs smoking ban 

HEALTH MINISTER John Rahael yesterday said new legislation to ban smoking in all public places should be laid in Parliament within the next four to six weeks. Rahael said this legislation would require a special majority for passage and he was optimistic that Government would receive that support from either the Opposition UNC or the Congress of the People (COP) when it comes to the House of Representatives. The Medical Professionals Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MPATT), which has opposed Government’s health sector initiatives on many occasions, yesterday said it supported in principle any legislation to curb smoking.

Rahael told Newsday that when this country signed the World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC) in 2004, it was the first nation in the Caribbean to do so.

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