Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
AS smokers in Bahrain get used to the mall ban on lighting up, one of the defining features of working life, huddles of smokers enjoying a quick fag break outside the doorway, could become the next target in the war against cigarettes.
The beleaguered smoker’s last refuge – a useful source of office gossip – could be swept away under the expansion of smoking ‘exclusion zones’ if health chiefs follow the lead of their counterparts in Europe.
The EU is now considering a proposal signalling the first move to limit smokers’ right to puff away outdoors. It states that, as well as a ban on lighting up in all workplaces and public buildings, restrictions could also be extended to outdoor areas around entrances to buildings.
Leisure industry spokesman Mark Hastings said: “Bans on smoking indoors are one thing. But most rational people believe bans on smoking in the open air would be a step way too far.”
