Media release: April 15, 2005
Health
and employee groups have called for smoke bans in licensed venues to be
tightened, after a new study showed smoky environments reduce sex hormone levels
in young males.
The
Seoul University study, published in Human Reproduction*, showed that
males aged 15-24 who had spent long periods in smoky areas suffered reduced
plasma testosterone levels – with the youngest affected most.
The
study led to calls for state and territory governments to tighten up on outdoor
smoking areas that remain after indoor smoking bans in licensed venues take
effect.
In
the wake of the study, the SmokeFree Australia coalition of health and employee
organisations renewed its call for:
Urgent steps to ensure that no worker is required to work in
any area where smoking is allowed, whether enclosed or not; and
Any smoking areas remaining after indoor-smokefree deadlines
to be genuinely outdoors and away from other patrons.
Coalition
spokesperson Stafford Sanders said the new study added to the growing research
showing serious health harm from passive smoking.
“Just
in recent months we’ve seen new research linking secondhand smoke exposure
with cervical and breast cancer,” he says. “We’ve also seen evidence that
crowded outdoor areas can lead to significant exposure.
“In
the light of all this, it should be up to any employer wishing to allow smoking
in any area to ensure no staff are working there, and that the smoke is not a
risk to any other person.
“Unless
governments ensure this, they are allowing employers to ignore Occupational
Health and Safety laws which set down a legal duty of care to keep workplaces
safe.
“Hospitality workers have waited long enough for the same OH&S
rights the rest of us enjoy – there’s no excuse for allowing them to be
further harmed by dangerous loopholes.”
* Heon Kim
et al, "Effect of
‘PC Game Room’ use and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure on plasma
testosterone concentrations in young male Koreans”, in Human Reproduction 2005 20(3):598-603; doi:10.1093/humrep/deh645
at www.ashaust.org.au/pdfs/PassvTesto0504.pdf
SmokeFree Australia coalition
for clean safe workplaces:
Liquor,
Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers’ Union; Musicians’ Union of Australia; Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance; Australian Council of
Trade Unions; Action on Smoking and Health Australia; The Cancer Council
Australia; National Heart Foundation of Australia; Australian Council on Smoking
and Health; Non-Smokers’ Movement of Australia; Australian Medical
Association; Asthma and Allergy Research Institute.