Bahrain mall goes smoke-free from today

Manama: Sitra Mall today becomes the first shopping complex in Bahrain to implement a strict ban on smoking.

The date coincides with the World No Tobacco Day celebrated this year under the theme of "Towards 100% No Tobacco Environment".

"We are very proud to be the first mall in Bahrain to introduce a smoking ban. Sitra Mall will now offer a smoke-free shopping experience, which is great news for all of our customers, especially the young ones," Sitra Mall manager Waqas Al Dhawadi said in a statement sent to Gulf News.

Protection

Located in a site overlooking the bayside of Sitra Island, five kilometres south of the capital Manama, Sitra Mall was inaugurated last year.

The move to enforce a strict ban in all of Bahrain's malls was supported by the health ministry amid media reports that more than 90 per cent of shoppers wanted an end to passive smoking and a better protection of non-smokers.

Health ministry figures released this month indicated that 24 per cent of Bahrainis are heavy smokers. "We need to protect the remaining 76 per cent from the lethal effects of passive smoking," the ministry said in a press statement.

For Dr Mariam Al Jalahma, the head of the Bahrain Anti-Smoking Society, the decision by Sitra Mall management deserves to be applauded.

"We commend the officials at Sitra Mall for their pioneering initiative and their participation in the awareness campaigns. The enforcement of smoking ban in malls will boost the significance to the shopping experience in particular and to the role of malls in general," she said.

"Studies have shown that negative smoking by a non-smoker leads to cancer as one cigarette contains four thousand poisonous substances," she said.

Leading preventable cause of death

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death in the world, with one in 10 deaths worldwide.

With passive smoking, WHO has launched a series of policy recommendations urging all governments to introduce and enforce smoking bans in indoor public places.