Movement to Ban Public Smoking Grows in Lebanon

ABC's Lara Setrakian reports from Dubai: The cliché scene of an Arab government office includes: a surplus of idle employees, heaps of paperwork, and lingering puffs of cigarette smoke. Now at least one of those three could be out the window. Though still in its early days, there’s a robust movement growing in Lebanon to ban smoking in public places. The measure would follow a similar ban in Turkey and Syria, and a law in Jordan still being implemented, within a greater Middle East known for its addiction to cigarettes; Turkey and Yemen lead the proverbial pack, with more than 60% of adult males identified as regular smokers. Syria trails with just over 50%, according to the World Health Organization. In Lebanon, where 45% of men and 38% of women smoke, a National Tobacco Control Program has campaigned for stricter laws. Dr. Georges Saadé, the head of that initiative, told local news site NowLebanon he hoped a public smoking ban would be law by May, along with tighter restrictions on cigarette advertising and labeling. But he concedes that implementation will be up against deeply engrained habits.  ”It’s ayb [shameful] in our culture to say no when someone asks to smoke,” Saadé told NowLebanon. The call for clean air has picked up in the smart bars and nightclubs of Beirut. Along the strip of pubs in Gemmayze, a number of bars now observe smoke-free Wednesdays. Online, a Facebook page in support of a Lebanese smoking ban has attracted roughly 16,000 people. How long before Beirut goes smoke-free on a major scale? The answer is like that ambiguous Arabic line, popular with cab drivers asked how long as ride will take: as long as the length of my cigarette’s smoke.