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Dubai: Smoking is to be banned in public parks, as part of the next phase of Dubai Municipality's tobacco regulation campaign.
Ahmad Al Shammari, Acting Director of the Municipality's Public Health Department, said: "Our next target will be public parks. Most people think that the public parks are open, but people disagree with this, because there are a lot of children using the playgrounds and some parks have swimming pools, beaches and restaurants.
"People go to most places to be free of smoking - they want to go and be free of smoke and enjoy themselves," he said.
To date, the Municipality has imposed smoking regulations in malls, restaurants and cafes, hotels and games halls.
"The Ministry of Health should take the initiative to ban smoking all over the UAE. Dubai and now Sharjah are introducing bans, but what about the rest of the emirates? They must think about this, because it is costing them to treat lung cancer and diseases related to smoking. I think it will cost the Government millions of dirhams to treat people every year for these diseases - they should take the initiative and we should have a law from the UAE Government, to ban smoking across the UAE," he said.
"This should be in place all over the UAE from the start. We are all human beings - we must have a free environment, because we are all living under one umbrella, one country. We should protect the UAE environment."
People found smoking in banned places are liable for a Dh1,000 fine. No individuals have been fined to date.
Timeline: Gathering momentum
- May 2003: Plan to start banning smoking in certain areas announced.
- May 31, 2007: First phases of smoking regulation drive announced on World No Tobacco Day.
- September 15, 2007: Smoking banned in malls.
- November 18 Smoking regulated in cafes and restaurants.
- January 15, 2008: Hotel anti-smoking campaign initiated.
- May 31: Sale of cigarettes to under-20s banned.
- July 6: Municipality agreement with Sports Council to regulate smoking in games halls, billiard halls, etc.
- December: Cafes serving shisha to be compliant with new rules.
Report cases of smoking in banned places on hotline - 900 800.
It's banned
Worldwide smoking bans are prevalent in Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland , USA (some states), Italy (Naples and Verona), Canada (Vancouver Province), China (Beijing), UK (Middlesbrough, Cleveland and Derwentside), Poland (playgrounds), Bhutan (ban on all tobacco sales).
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