Let’s Make Pub Smoking History !
An Open Letter to the NSW Government,  May 29, 2004

In NSW, smoking has long been banned in lifts, cinemas, all public transport, shops, banks, airports, and on planes. You cannot smoke inside your workplace – unless your workplace happens to be a bar or casino. If you are a bar worker, you are exposed to greater concentrations of tobacco smoke than any other occupational group.  Bar workers have high levels of cotinine (a metabolite of nicotine) in their blood. With every breath, they inhale cancer-causing tiny particles in tobacco smoke. The WHO’s International Agency for Research in Cancer has declared passive smoking to be a cause of cancer, and in 1992 the US Environmental Protection Agency declared tobacco smoke to be a Class A carcinogen.

We protect all other workers from this. So why do we continue to allow those who are most exposed to work unprotected?

Your Government will soon consider the report of a working party about whether smoking should be totally banned in pubs and bars. Some sentimentalise smoking in pubs as “the last bastion”. In truth, it is the last bastion of an almost Dickensian attitude to occupational health which puts money before workers’ health.

Some in your Government are nervous that a pub smoking ban may reduce tax income from poker machines. As a recent Tattersalls report put it “smoking is a powerful reinforcement for the trance-inducing rituals associated with gambling". Going outside to have a cigarette can interrupt that trance and smokers may “be tempted to go home rather than play on”. To add the exploitation of problem gambling to the neglect of workers’ and patrons’ health is indefensible.

Just before the Olympics, Bob Carr banned smoking in all restaurants. Three surveys have since confirmed what anyone can see for themselves: restaurants are booming. Smoking is banned in bars in New York, California, and Ireland. New Zealand and Norway will ban it from 2005.  Everyone says a smoking ban in pubs is inevitable. Smoking in pubs will soon seem as bizarre as the spittoons that adorned restaurant tables 100 years ago or having dedicated “ladies lounges”.

Your government has acted decisively and put Frank Sartor in charge of a historically unprecedented drive to reduce cancer in NSW through the Cancer Institute.   The first test of the integrity of your policy will be to act to protect the health of the state’s bar staff and customers. Today we call on you to make pub smoking history.

Written and Authorized by Prof Simon Chapman, Action on Smoking and Health, Woolloomooloo.

Endorsed by 214 prominent Australians:

Bruce Adams, the last Marlboro Man
Dr Rosemary Aldrich, public health physician
Prof David Allen, Physiology, Univ Sydney
Prof Richard Allen, Transplantation Surgery, Univ Sydney & RPA Hospital
Dr Garth Alperstein, Area Community Paediatrician, Central Sydney Area Health Service
Patricia Amphlett (“Little Pattie”), performer
Chris Anstey, national basketballer
Prof Bruce Armstrong, Head, Public Health, Univ Syd
Prof Bruce Barraclough, Medical Dir, Australian Cancer Network
Elizabeth Barrett, Medical Adviser, NSW Rural Doctors Network
Prof Antony Basten, Exec Dir, Centenary Institute of Cancer Medicine & Cell Biology
Prof Louise Baur, paediatrician
Don Baxter, Exec Dir, Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO)
A/Prof Kenneth W Beagley, Head of Immunology and Microbiology, Univ Newcastle
Dr James Bell, Royal Australasian College of Physicians
John Bell, Artistic Dir, Bell Shakespeare Company
Prof Ron Benzie, Dir, Perinatal Ultrasound, Nepean Hospital
Prof Norbert Berend, Dir, Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, RPA Hospital
Linda J Berry, Researcher, Univ Newcastle
Martin P Berry, Dir, SW Sydney Cancer Service
Roy Billing, actor
Dr David Brookman, Medical Practitioner & Senior Lecturer, Univ Newcastle
Senator Bob Brown, Australian Greens
Prof Wendy Brown, Health Sciences, Univ Newcastle
Prof Margaret Burgess, Paediatrics & Child Health, Univ Sydney
Dr Leslie Burnett, Pathology, Univ Sydney
Prof Julie Byles, Dir, Research and Education in Ageing, Univ Newcastle
Prof Terry Campbell, Medicine, UNSW
Lindsay Cane, CEO, Netball Australia; ex-CEO, Asthma Foundation
Merryl Case, Technical Officer, Anatomy, Univ Newcastle
Stephanie Cauchi, Office Manager, Whyburns Legal
Prof Simon Chapman, Public Health, Univ Sydney
Dr Arthur Chesterfield-Evans, Australian Democrats MLC (NSW)
Prof Don Chisholm, St Vincent's Hospital, UNSW, Garvan Institute
Richard I. Christopherson, leukaemia researcher, Univ Sydney
Dr Kerrie Clover, health researcher
Prof Alan Coates, CEO, Cancer Council Australia
Prof Andrew Coats, Dean, Medicine, Univ Sydney
Liza Collins, Cancer Services, Western Sydney Area Health Service
Sally Crossing, Co-Chair, Cancer Voices NSW
Prof Roger Dampney, Physiology, Univ Sydney
Prof Ric Day, Clinical Pharmacology, UNSW & St Vincent's Hospital
Prof Trevor A Day, Anatomy, Univ Newcastle
Catherine Delahunty, Research Assistant, VRI BioMedical, Newcastle
Peter Delahunty, sound engineer
Anne Deveson, writer & broadcaster
Dr Sally de Zwaan, Doctors-In-Training Councillor AMA (NSW)
Prof Basil Donovan, Univ Sydney; Sydney Hospital
Prof Cris dos Remedios, Anatomy & Biophysics, Univ Sydney
Prof Stewart Dunn, Psychological Medicine, Univ Sydney
Andrea Durbach, Dir, Public Interest Advocacy Centre
Prof John Dwyer, UNSW; Health Reform Alliance
Patrick Dwyer, Olympic runner
Karin Edwards, Industrial Officer, CFMEU (NSW)
Prof Maurice Eisenbruch, Dir, Centre for Culture and Health, UNSW
Liz Ellis, Captain, Australian Netball Team & Sydney Swifts
Prof David Ellwood, Obstetrics & Gynaecology; Assoc Dean, Medicine, ANU
Prof Christine Ewan, CEO, National Breast Cancer Centre
Dr Elizabeth M Feeney, AMA (NSW); Aust Society of Anaesthetists 
Prof Michael Field, Medicine, Univ Sydney
Linley Frame, former world champion swimmer
Prof Ian S Fraser, Reproductive Medicine, Univ Sydney
Dr Gavin W Frost, Medical Practitioner
Dr Gabriel Sam Gabriel, Collaboration for Cancer Outcomes, Liverpool Hospital
Prof Eileen Gallery, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Univ Sydney
Prof Andrew Geczy, Medicine, Univ Sydney; Dir, Tissue Typing, Aust Red Cross
Dr Andrew Gibson, Occupational Physician
Prof Peter Gibson, John Hunter Hospital, Univ Newcastle
Prof Warwick B Giles, Reproductive Medicine, Univ Newcastle
Douglas Gillespie, Technical Officer, Anatomy, Univ Newcastle
Dr Michael Gliksman, Occupational Physician; Chair, Medical Practice Ctee, AMA NSW
Dr Risto Gobius, (retired) paediatrician/medical administrator
Ivan Goldberg, Dir, Eye Associates; Vice-Pres, Glaucoma Australia
A/Prof Andrew Grulich, Head, HIV Epidemiology & Prevention Program, UNSW
Dr John Gullotta, President, Australian Medical Association (NSW)
Prof Peter Gunning, Cancer Researcher, Univ Sydney
Prof Paul Haber, Physician, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital
Dr Graham Hall, Occupational Physician
Stephen Hancock, Registered Nurse & Statistician
Dr Lawrence Hayden, Head of Urology, Liverpool Hospital
A/Prof John Heath, Anatomy, Univ Newcastle
Hans Heilpern, lawyer; former chair, Commercial Tribunal
A/Prof Anita Heiss, author & social commentator
Prof David Henry, Clinical Pharmacology, Univ Newcastle
Rev Harry J Herbert, Exec Dir, UnitingCare NSW
Prof Peter Hersey, Oncology, Univ Newcastle
Mary Hicks, New England Area co-ordinator Cancer Services
Rob Hirst, musician (Midnight Oil)
Gabi Hollows, Founding Dir, Fred Hollows Foundation
Dr Krishna Hort, public health physician
Prof Nicholas H Hunt, Pathology; Dir, Inst of Biomedical Research, Univ Sydney
Prof Jim Hyde, Pres, NSW Branch, Public Health Association of Aust
iOTA, musician/artist
Mark Isaacs, pianist & composer
Linda Jaivin, author & asthmatic
Dr Trefor James, Medical Officer, Cricket Australia
Anne Jones, CEO, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Australia
Maya Jupiter, JJJ presenter
Dominique Kahwaji-Shaw, Community Officer, Partnership for Aboriginal Care
Mike Kelly, Wollongong Hawks basketballer
Thomas Keneally, author
Dr Robert Kenyon, Senior Occupational Physician, WorkCover NSW
Prof Michael Kidd, General Practice, Univ Sydney
Petrea King, Founder and CEO, Quest for Life Centre, Bundanoon
Anne Kirkpatrick, country music singer
Prof Philip W. Kuchel, Biochemistry, Univ Sydney
Susan Lenehan, former SA government minister
Ann-Louise Lettoof, Lecturer, Univ Newcastle
Adam Lincoln, Safety Organiser, CFMEU
Dr Deborah Lloyd, health consultant & academic
Prof Alan Lopez, Head of Population Health, Univ Qld
Melissa Lucashenko, Aboriginal author
Wendy Machin, former NSW Minister for Consumer Affairs
Dr Peter Macdonald, Mayor of Manly
Sam Mackinnon, Dual Olympian (Basketball)
Prof Irena Madjar, Nursing, Univ Newcastle
Dr Nigel Marsh, Consultant Occupational Physician
Prof Laurence E Mather, Anaesthesia & Analgesia, Univ Sydney at RNS Hospital
Wendy McCarthy, Chancellor, Univ Canberra
Lynne McGranger, TV actress (“Home and Away”)
Joy McKean, musician, widow of Slim Dusty
Jeanie McKenzie, Dir, Cardiovascular Health, National Heart Foundation of Aust
Dr Rick McLean, Associate Dean, Dubbo Clinical School, Univ Sydney
John McPhee, Honorary Senior Lecturer, Values, Ethics and the Law, Univ Sydney
Dr Ross Mills, Occupational Medicine Specialist
Dr Chris Mitchell, Chair, North Coast GP Training
Sandra Moait, President, Labor Council of NSW; Vice President, ACTU
Mary Moloney, solicitor , Stacks/Goudkamp
Clover Moore, Independent Member for Bligh & Lord Mayor of Sydney
Prof Michael Morgan, Neurosurgery, Univ Sydney
Prof Brian J. Morris, Medical Sciences, Univ Sydney
Di Morrissey, writer
Dr Pat Mowbray, President, Healthy Cities Illawarra
Graeme Murphy, Artistic Dir, Sydney Dance Co
Vic Neilsen, Chartered Accountant
Prof Garth Nicholson, Medicine, Univ Sydney
Terry Noone, Fed Sec, Musicians’ Union of Aust
Sir Gustav Nossal, Emeritus Professor, Univ Melbourne; Australian of the Year, 2000
Dr George Nossar, Occupational Medicine & Health, RPA Hospital
Prof Kim Oates, Paediatrics and Child Health, Univ Sydney
Prof Chris O'Brien, Dir, Sydney Cancer Centre, RPA Hospital
Brian O'Gorman, physiotherapist, psychotherapist (rtd)
Dr John Orchard, team doctor, NSW State of Origin & Sydney Roosters RL teams
Dr Sue Page, President, Rural Doctors Assoc of Aust
Dr J N Parikh, GP, occupational health &safety adviser
Dr Lynne Parkinson, Senior Fellow, Research & Education in Ageing, Univ Newcastle
Prof Michael Peek, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Univ Sydney
Dr Andrew Penman, CEO, Cancer Council NSW
Dr Matthew Peters, Concord Hospital; Chair, ASH Australia
Prof Kerryn Phelps, Public Health, Univ Sydney; Past President AMA
Peta Jane Piper, Assoc Solicitor, Maurice Blackburn Cashman
Sabrina Pit, Researcher, Health Behaviour Sciences, Univ Newcastle
Prof Dimity Pond, General Practice, Univ Newcastle
Jenny Powers, Statistician, Women's Health Australia; Univ Newcastle
A/Prof David Powis, Health, Univ Newcastle
Dr Lynne Pressley, Cardiologist, RPA Hospital; President, National Heart Foundation NSW
Shanti Raman, Area Child Health Advisor, Western Sydney Area Health Service
Dr Michael Ridley, past Pres, AMA (NSW)
Dr Chris Rissel, Central Sydney Area Health Service; Health Promotion Journal of Aust
A/Prof Jan Ritchie, Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW
Ian Robertson, Secr, Development and Environmental Professionals' Association
Stephen Rothman, Senior Counsel, President NSW Jewish Board of Deputies
Cherie Roy, psychologist
Prof George Rubin, Public Health, Univ Sydney
Prof Peter Sainsbury, Pres, Public Health Association of Australia
Dr Fares Samara, General Practitioner
Stafford Sanders, Co-ordinator, SmokeFree Australia (health/trade union coalition)
Eva Scheerlinck, CEO, Australian Plaintiff Lawyers Association
Mary Schneider, country music singer
Harold Scruby, Chairman/CEO, Pedestrian Council of Aust
Peter Semmler QC, barrister
Dr Bruce Shepherd, Chairman, Australian Doctors Fund
Prof John Shine, scientist, Chief Exec, Garvan Institute
Prof Andrew Sindone, Dir Heart Failure Unit & Cardiac Rehabilitation, Concord Hospital
Dr Jacqueline Small, Developmental Paediatrician
Dr David Smith, Sen Lecturer, Ethics and Health Law, Univ Newcastle
Stephen Smith, lawyer
Suzanne Snodgrass, Physiotherapy, Univ Newcastle
Prof John Snowdon, Univ Sydney
Prof C Soon Lee, Univ Sydney; Royal Prince Alfred Hospital
Georgina Spilsbury, Sen Psychologist, RNS Hospital
Prof Fiona Stanley, child health researcher; Australian of the Year 2003
Zali Steggall, Olympic skier
Dr Michael Steiner, Treas, AMA NSW; Past Pres, RANZ College of Ophthalmologists
Prof Bernard W Stewart, Dir, Cancer Services, South East Health
Rex Stubbs, Mayor of Hawkesbury
Deborah Sundin-Huard, Lecturer, Nursing & Midwifery, Newcastle University
Lloyd Swanton, jazz musician
Dr Kevin Sweeney, Senior Lecturer, Health, Univ Newcastle
Prof Nicholas J Talley, Mayo Clinic; Co-Dir, Center for Enteric Neurosciences
Michael Tarren-Sweeney, Lecturer in Psychiatry, Univ Newcastle; Child & Family Psychologist
Prof Richard Taylor, Public Health, Univ Sydney; former Head, NSW Cancer Registry
A/Prof Peter Thursby, Vascular Surgery, Univ Sydney
Dr Campbell Tiley, Dir Cancer Services, Central Coast Health
Prof Geoffrey Tofler, Preventative Cardiology, RNS Hospital & Univ Sydney
Monica Trapaga, singer & entertainer
Kostya Tszyu, world champion boxer
Kate Tynan, Project Manager, SW Sydney Cancer Service
A/Prof Peter van Asperen, Respiratory Medicine, Univ Sydney & Westmead Children’s Hospital 
Dr Ingrid van Beek, Sydney Medically Supervised Injecting Centre; Lecturer, UNSW
Rhonda Walker, Lecturer, Quality Improvement in Health Care, Univ Newcastle
A/Prof Merrilyn Walton, Ethical Practice, Univ Sydney
Dr Penny Warner-Smith, Dep Dir, Gender and Health, Univ Newcastle
Johnnie Warren, soccer legend
Rod Weaver, barrister
Karen Webb, Senior Lecturer, Public Health & Biosciences, Univ Sydney
Helen Wellings, journalist & broadcaster
Bob Whyburn, lawyer, Sydney
Dr Alex Wodak, Dir, Alcohol and Drug Service, St. Vincent's Hospital
John Wood, actor
Joan Worboys, Secretary, Paediatrics, Univ Newcastle
Kerry Wyborn, Australian Softballer
Dr John Yu, Paediatrician; Australian of the Year 1996
Helen Zerefos, singer
Prof Anthony Zwi, Head, Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW
Prof Nicholas Zwar, General Practice, UNSW  

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