Pieta Woolley photo.
Emily Jane Stuart wonders if a civilian militia in Speedos would enforce a smoking ban on beaches.
July 17, 2008
Beach smoking ban moves closer
Do you favour a smoking ban on beaches?
Korina Houghton
Vancouver park board chair
“I’m still somewhat reluctant to put any kind of ban on it. Smokers, if they want to maintain their privileges, should really be conscious about not littering on our beaches. If there’s anything that would change my line, it would be the continuous littering.”
Vanessa Hanson
Office worker and five-year smoker
“I enjoy smoking but I can understand why it’s not appreciated by others around me. It’s a gross habit and a personal choice. I’m all for the ban. That might deter some people, but if someone wants to smoke they’ll just take the ticket and keep smoking.”
Wai Sin
Potential NPA park board nominee
“We want to have a really healthy environment. We want everybody to enjoy the beaches. So why not make our beaches smoke-free? We know that cigarettes are not healthy for people. Even now in a lot of public spaces, people are not allowed to smoke.”
John Irwin
Potential COPE park board nominee
“It’s a good time to look at it. People are quite aware of the heath risks
of smoking. I’ve heard from parents—and I’m a parent myself—
that there is some concern that being on the beach next to smokers is not good for their children.
But I think we need to have a
full public process.”
Nisha Nelson
Beachgoer and 12-year smoker
“I actually think it’s a good idea because of all the kids that
come to the beach and all the
cigarette butts that gather along the beach from people littering.
It’s beneficial for everyone around you and for the environment, so
I don’t mind it.”
At Kitsilano Beach on July 16, bikinis were the uniform of choice. Dozens of tanned, smooth, healthy bodies lay in the sand. Emily Jane Stuart was smoking, and said she hadn’t heard any talk of banning her habit. She seemed surprised when a Georgia Straight reporter suggested this might occur in the near future.
“It’s all we need: a civilian militia in Speedos,” Stuart told the Straight. “What’s next? Beaches going vegan? Lactose-free? Peanut-free?”
Two days earlier on the same beach, smoker Cristin Federico said that prohibiting people from lighting up on the beach “kind of sucks”. But the 27-year-old beachgoer also said that a ban may not be that bad after all. “It does make me think about quitting a lot more,” Federico told the Straight.
Smoking on Vancouver’s public beaches is legal, but that may change. Vancouver Coastal Health Authority and Vancouver park board staff are in discussions about a no-smoking policy on selected beaches, according to Domenic Losito, regional director of health protection.
Losito couldn’t tell the Straight whether or not a report recommending a ban will be submitted for approval by park commissioners for implementation this summer. However, Losito said he hopes that a ban may be implemented next summer, noting that there is “interest among [park board] staff” about this policy.
Park commissioner Ian Robertson said he wasn’t aware of these discussions but noted that his position remains the same as last year when the Straight asked him about prohibiting people from lighting up in beaches.
“I would be in favour of cordoning off particular areas in the beach and saying, ‘This is a smoke-free area of the beach,’ ” Robertson said in a recent interview. “I would be in favour of a test and giving visitors to the beach the opportunity to be there in the beach without smoke in their face.”
Concerns about smoking have also been noted on the clothing-
optional Wreck Beach. On June 12 this year, the Metro Vancouver parks committee directed staff to look into smoking within the Pacific Spirit Regional Park where the nudist haven is located and examine the potential of bringing forward a ban on the beach.
And the City of White Rock is a step closer to banning smoking in public areas like playgrounds, parks, and its famed beach promenade, according to city councillor Matt Todd.
An antismoking crusader, Todd told the Straight that council is waiting for a staff report on such a move that will also include a prohibition on smoking within 7.5 metres of building entrances, air-intake openings, and customer-service areas like patios.
Todd said he doesn’t know whether or not the ban would be extended to White Rock’s beach, although he said he considers it a “great idea”.
A Toronto-based smokers’-rights advocate scoffed at the idea of forcing people to butt out on beaches. “If ever in the world there was a place to smoke that was totally safe, it’s got to be a beach,” Michelle Gervais of the Citizens Freedom Alliance Inc. told the Straight. “You’re surrounded by sand and water. Everybody can see you smoking and can avoid you if they wish to. So what would be the purpose of such a ban? The only purpose is to humiliate smokers.”
West End activist Aaron Jasper is seeking a Vision Vancouver park board nomination, and he said he has some concerns about the wisdom of coming out with a bylaw against smoking on public beaches. These include resources needed to enforce the policy. “So my inclination is to [just] discourage smoking on public beaches,” Jasper told the Straight.
British Columbians support tobacco-control measures
> 73 percent are in favour of 100-percent smoke-free public places, including outdoor patios, parks, and beaches.
> 82 percent back the prohibition of smoking in motor vehicles when a person under the age of 19 is present.
> 73 percent support restricting the sale of tobacco products only to regulated retail outlets, much like for alcohol.
> 90 percent are in favour of encouraging, through education, a ban on smoking in homes with children.
Source: January 2008 B.C. Stats survey commissioned by the Clean Air Coalition of B.C.
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Owners, workers and customers of the hospitality industry do not support Tobacco control.
Why?
Because they have a vested interst in this policy.
Why should non-smokers be included in this survey?
They do not or very seldom patronize the hospitality industry on any given day
The anti-smoking cartel uses this trickery all over North America
You can't make ridiculous claims without at least attempting to back them up.
I will word it another way.
A truer survey should have been among the owners,workers and customers.
Why?
Because they are the one's who have a vested interest in this situation
As for smoking bans on beaches, most of the support for those is usually based on litter concerns. However when beach "cigarette litter" has been analyzed it turns out that most often it washes up from storm runoff drains where smoking bans have pushed smokers out into the streets where they litter with very little effective control.
If the concern was TRULY to reduce beach litter the most effective means to do so would be to put smokers back into bars and restaurants that allow smoking and put "warning signs" on their doors for anyone who's concerned. Of course you'll almost never find an antismoker who supports that because the true motivation is to target the smoker, not the litter.
Michael J. McFadden
Author of "Dissecting Antismokers' Brains"