UAE | Health

Positive response to anti-smoking drive

About 10,700 inspections were conducted by Dubai Municipality under its anti-smoking campaign, said a senior municipality official.

  • By Sunita Menon, Staff Reporter
  • Published: 23:15 May 30, 2009
  • Gulf News

  • Image Credit: Supplied picture
  • Dubai Municipality officials conduct a test during the launch of the anti-smoking campaign at their premises.

Dubai: About 10,700 inspections were conducted by Dubai Municipality under its anti-smoking campaign, said a senior municipality official.

The civic body had already kicked-off the campaign from its premises on Thursday last week by conducting the carbon monoxide test on its staff and visitors.

As part of the campaign to mark World No Tobacco Day today, the municipality is organising a lecture titled "Impact of Smoking and Ways to Quit" at the Al Twar public library at 5pm.

Reda Salman, director of public heath and safety department, said that the response to the anti-smoking campaign has so far been encouraging. A large number of individuals and institutions have adhered to anti-smoking regulations.

"The public has shown a lot of commitment in regulating smoking not only in public places but also individually. For example, the commitment shown by shopping malls was 93.5 per cent, followed by hotels and hotel apartments at 86.5 per cent, entertainment places [at] 82 per cent, restaurants, cafés and fast food joints [at] 68 per cent, tobacco sale outlets [at] 70 per cent, public buildings and educational institutions [at] 90 per cent and labour residence [workers' accommodation] and health establishments [at] 80 per cent.

"During the campaign, inspections are carried out in commercial and government buildings, hospitals, hotels, shopping malls, restaurants and cafés, petrol stations and grocery shops that serve as tobacco sale outlets," said Salman.

The anti-smoking campaign was first launched under local law 11-2003 related to public health and community safety in Dubai.

"Under our public awareness programme about 3,000 stickers with the message of 'Tobacco ban under 20' were distributed in addition to 2,000 stickers with a message that reads 'Entrance ban of under 20 to smoking zones'&

The official said that people can call up the 24-hour municipality hotline 800900 to lodge complaints on violations of the smoking ban.

Are you a smoker? Do you smoke to pass time? Or are you addicted? Have you tried quitting? If not, are you planning to kick the habbit?

Your comments


for muslims it is very easy to quit smoking just wait for month of Ramdan it is the ever best chance to quit smoking
Mohammad Miyan Khasdar
Dubai,UAE
Posted: May 31, 2009, 17:03

I quit smoking for last 7 years. It is not difficult to get away from the bad habit unless you don't have strong willpower.
Ameer
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: May 31, 2009, 15:25

I am 20 and never touch cigarettes in my life. I'm strongly against smokers. I don't even allow my friends to smoke when they are with me n hence lost many friends. Smoking is nothin but just a way to spoil one's health. There should be special rules n regulations against smokers which should ultimately force them to quit smoking. Hopin for best thanks....
Abu Bakr Abdul Aziz
Al Ain,UAE
Posted: May 31, 2009, 15:20

My husband is a heavy smoker. Can someone guide me so that I can convince him to quit smoking.
Reena
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: May 31, 2009, 14:51

My husband is a smoker for the last 15 years. He never tried to quit smoking but he promised to give up this year. Hope he will do it. Good luck jawaid.
Saima
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: May 31, 2009, 14:44

yes i am a smoker and smoke to pass time yes i think i am addicted. i have tried but can't quit smoking. yes i am planing to quit this habit.
Abdul Samad
Dubai,UAE
Posted: May 31, 2009, 14:40

I'm coming to 12 weeks since i quit smoking. One reason is my wife is pregnant, and I don't want my wife or future to get sick. Second, I saw one of these images on a box of cigarettes from Europe on the Internet. A man who had a big tumour growing on the exterior of the throat. This honestly scared me and I quit the same day. I urge you to search for these images, they're truly horific and the benefits of not smoking are almost immediate.
Hashim Hussain
Dubai,UAE
Posted: May 31, 2009, 14:33

I'm not a smoker and I suggest to double or even tripple the price of cigarettes so that smokers would think twice before buying. The non smokers are the victims of their vices and it is unfair to get sick when we don't even smoke.
Rose
Dubai,UAE
Posted: May 31, 2009, 14:03

I am smoking last 12 years it started from fun and now i am badly addicted to smoking tried many times to quit but i failed but i am not going to give up i will try again
Mohammad Emtiyaz
Dubai,UAE
Posted: May 31, 2009, 13:49

I am not a smoker but my brother does smoke and he is addicted to it and can not quit. Best regards
Kamilia Hafez
Dubai,UAE
Posted: May 31, 2009, 13:46

I's good to have banned the cigarettes on public places. Same what have been done or should be done in all over world. But why canâ??t we think of banning the company manufacturing Cigarettes or Banning the import export of cigarettes. Every person knows the health effect of cigarettes, but still they smoke. On every packet of Cigarettes itâ??s written "Cigarate smoking is injuries to health" But still people donâ??t stop smoking
Syed Shaheer
Pune,India
Posted: May 31, 2009, 13:05

YES I AM A SMOKER. I SMOKE SOMETIMES FOR TIME PASS BUT SOMETIME FOR MY DESIRE. CAN YOU PLEASE GUIDE ME HOW CAN I QUIT SMOKING?
Waqas
DUBAI,UAE
Posted: May 31, 2009, 12:48

I was a heavy smoker since my 14eens, almost 15 years I used to smoke around 15 cigarettes a day. I had been thinking of quitting the habit for the last 5 years of my smoking. Finally I've achieved the goal after several time setbacks. Now I am totally freed from addiction for the last 6 months. Quitting is all about will power, instead of taking medicines or cutting down the number of cigarettes. Hope for a healthy life and try to quit as much as possible instead of ignoring the challenge.
Jaafar
Moscow,Russia
Posted: May 31, 2009, 12:01

I TRIED MANY TIMES TO STOP SMOKING BUT I CANT
Mirza
Deira,UAE
Posted: May 31, 2009, 11:59

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