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Friends,
We all know that tobacco kills. This year, we want
to use the World No Tobacco Day to tell everyone that tobacco kills
non-smokers as well. Let us be clear about it. Second-hand smoke also
kills.
It is well documented through solid science that
exposure to second-hand smoke causes cancer and contributes to various
lung and heart diseases. It can cause asthma and other respiratory
illnesses in children, and has been implicated in various other
childhood diseases such as sudden infant death syndrome or middle-ear
infections.
Scientists agree that there is no safe level of
exposure to second hand smoke. It should simply be avoided. Neither
air conditioning nor separation of smoking areas completely clears the
air. The best protection is not to be exposed to second-hand smoke at
all, whether inside the home or outside.
Reality, however is different. We are all exposed
to second-hand smoke nearly everywhere we go. In cafes, in airports,
in shopping malls, often in the workplace. In countries where there
are no controls on smoking, people are exposed to it all day, every
day. So are people who work in restaurants or bars.
The World Health Organization estimates that
approximately 700 million, or almost half, of the world’s children
are exposed to second-hand smoke. In spite of what science tells us,
however, in many places it is considered so acceptable to smoke, and
so rude and unaccommodating to protest, that we dare not speak out
against second-hand smoke.
The time has come for us to speak out. We have a
right to breathe clean air. We have a right to good health and to
protect our friends and family. We need to clear the air of
second-hand smoke.
Today, we are calling for a ban on smoking in
public places.
Such a ban offers a comprehensive solution to
keeping the air clean and safe for all people, both smokers and
non-smokers. It puts the emphasis on people’s right to health and
helps to make smoking the exception rather than the norm. From Canada
to Thailand, Australia to South Africa, whereever smoking bans have
been put into effect they have also been shown to help people quit
smoking.
The wider the bans on smoking in public places are,
the greater is the social consensus that tobacco use is unacceptable.
The tobacco industry knows this all too well and they have feared it
for a long time. They are working hard to prevent us from taking the
dangers of second-hand smoke seriously.
The tobacco industry has spent millions of dollars
trying to convince employers and governments that better ventilation
or mere courtesy will solve the problem of second-hand smoke. They
have done everything in their power to delay and defeat meaningful
action on second-hand smoke.
It is time that health wins the argument. We need
to clear the air of misinformation about second-hand smoke.
We must take back our right to health and to life.
On this World No Tobacco Day, let us call on our parents, partners,
employers and our elected officials to ensure a smoke-free world. Let
us pledge to protect ourselves, each other, our children and our
families from second-hand smoke.
I am especially pleased to be here in Geneva on
this beautiful day with all of you. The petition that so many of you
have signed is just the kind of action we need to ensure that our air
stays clean and the children of Geneva can grow up free from
second-hand smoke.
Thank you. |
