By Laura Matthews, Guardian Staff Reporter

laura@nasguard.com

You can't seem to escape it no matter where you go. Pop into a popular nightclub downtown or wander around Cable Beach, and you could find yourself going home smelling like a walking ashtray. Even family outings to the Fish Fry or Junkanoo in June, will leave you wading through a cloud of smoke.

In fact, being a non-smoker in The Bahamas can seriously damage your health. So what can be done to avoid that smoker's cough, even though you have never picked up a cigarette in your life?

Well, the United States Surgeon-General Richard Car- mona said last week that the only way to control second-hand smoking is to ban it from all public places.

"Scientific evidence is now indisputable [that] second-hand smoke is not a mere annoyance, [but] it is a serious health hazard that can lead to disease and premature death in children and non-smoking adults," said Carmona.

The exposure to second-hand smoke at home and in the workplace is prevalent in The Bahamas, despite the fact that we have signed a treaty with The World Health Organisation (WHO) to prevent people from 'lighting up' in public.

"We have World No Tobacco Day, and we celebrated that on May 31," said Dr Evaneth McPhee, Medical Officer of Health/National Epidemiolo-gists at the Ministry of Health.

"WHO has been celebrating it and countries that are signatories [do the same.]

"But you have to look at the legislation and see how we can legislate tobacco smoking in public places. A lot [of advertisements] refer to banning of smoking in public places, for example, the gas stations . . . an advertisement that may seem passive but is quite active." Smokers such as Johnathon Knowles, 21, who has been puffing away for six years, said tougher legislation would encourage him to 'stub out' his habit.

"I think it would discourage a lot of people from smoking," he said. "I try my hardest not to smoke around people, as I'm not the kind of smoker to just light up around people.

"But bars, clubs, good God . . . there is just something about drinking and smoking that makes you want to light up when you are in those places."

During an average night out, Johnathon will smoke a pack of cigarettes. It's a similar story for James. The 52-year-old life-long smoker said he hoped the government would outlaw smoking in public, as this would help him break the nicotine habit.

"To tell you the truth, I hope they ban it because this could finally be the [incentive] I need to stop smoking. Perhaps then, I will stub it out," he said.

Anthony Capron, who smoked for 12 years, said he quit because he felt the time was right. But he doesn't think a public ban will stop passive smoking.

"You've got to look at it two ways, if you are a smoker, you wouldn't see why they should ban it and if you are a non-smoker, it [smoking] can irritate you. But if people want to, they will smoke," he said.

To put the smoking dilemma into a regional context, The Bahamas is not the only Caribbean country facing the problem. Jamaica is developing legislation on tobacco control in keeping with its commitments under the 2003 WHO Framework Convention.

Knox E. Hagley, Chairman of Jamaica Coalition for Tobacco Control, told The Gleaner in 2004, that "large population-based control studies have demonstrated increased risks of about 20 per cent for developing lung cancer among non-smokers, who have had prolonged exposure to cigarette smoke."

He added: "Indeed, the development of heart disease and other smoking-related diseases among such people led to the conclusion that passive smoking is a public health hazard."

Cigarette companies don't see it that way. The Carreras Group, the major tobacco producer in Jamaica, believes that "claims made against environmental smoke were overstated."

The company added: "[We do not] believe that passive smoking had been shown to cause chronic diseases such as lung cancer or cardio-vascular disease."

But Lynn Butler, whose mother developed asthma due his father's smoking habits, disagrees. Butler's dad quit smoking because his health began to deteriorate. "I don't think that banning smoking in public places will stop them because it is a habit," he said. "But what I know is that when my father smoked, it affected my mother and it gave her asthma. I was lucky," he added.

"If they ban smoking, they have to stop tobacco companies from making cigarettes."

According to WHO, "tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the world today. With 4.9 million tobacco-related deaths per year, no other consumer product is as dangerous or kills as many people as tobacco."

WTO added: "Tobacco is the second major cause of death in the world. It is currently responsible for the death of one in ten adults worldwide.

"If smoking patterns continue, it will cause some 10 million deaths each year by 2020."