Here's a letter I wrote that got published today in the South China Morning Post's Letters to the Editor section. (The South China Morning Post is Hong Kong's main English newspaper.) I wrote it in response to a letter that was published just this past Sunday in the same section. Well here's the edited, improved version of my letter that they published (thanks, Editor!):

SMOKING BAN WOULD ACTUALLY BE GOOD FOR BUSINESS

I refer to the letter by Laura Ruggeri headlined ''Ban on smokers must be up to individual restaurant owners'' (South China Morning Post, July 13).

I disagree with Ms Ruggeri's suggestion that instead of the government implementing a total ban on smoking in restaurants, the owners of each restaurant should decide. The owners have always been free to make this choice, so if Ms Ruggeri had her way things would never improve.

Recent surveys, which were fair and objective, have proved that the majority of Hong Kong residents and even visitors prefer a smoke-free restaurant environment and that business for restaurants would increase, not decrease, if a smoking ban was implemented. Of course, the tobacco lobby always claims otherwise, without any hard facts or figures to back up their claims.

What many smokers fail to realise is that in any restaurant their smoking habit always makes non-smokers around them extremely uncomfortable.

Non-smokers choke in the smoke-filled air.

They often lose their appetite, and are forced to rush out of the restaurant. Over time, exposure by non-smokers to second-hand smoke can lead to serious health problems as well. Indeed, smokers infringe on the rights of others by just lighting up, whether in a restaurant or on the street.

If the ban was in effect for restaurants, non-smokers would undoubtedly be less exposed to harmful carcinogens.

A total ban is not an ''absurd'' idea. California introduced a ban in restaurants in 1994 and then in bars in 1998. The results have been positive.

Hong Kong should adopt the same policy. Bring in a ban in restaurants as soon as possible and, at a later date, consider extending the law to bars. The well-being of the non-smoking public should not continue to be compromised for the sake of the smoking minority.

Those who do not indulge in this bad habit have suffered for long enough. The situation will not improve in restaurants until a smoking ban is enshrined in legislation.

DEREK TOM
Wanchai

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