An essay on smoking in airports

On the right side of page 19 in the March 16 issue of The China Post, readers saw the headline, “Taiwan, Japan target 3 million tourists.” Next to that report (of approximately 400 words) was a briefer article entitled “Airport smoking areas being considered.” A photograph of several men smoking cigarettes on a terrace in Terminal 2 at the Taoyuan airport accompanied the article.

The piece on tourism said that although the number of Japanese visitors to Taiwan dipped slightly in 2009, over a million Japanese did come to our shores last year. For the fifth year in a row, Japan was our largest source of tourists.

With a compelling photograph to back it up, the shorter report next door, so to speak, related the problems Japanese smokers face while in Taiwan in the form of strict anti-smoking regulations that affect hotels, restaurants and, oh, oh, airports.

Officials at the Taoyuan airport in fact opened an outdoor patio for smokers in January. Plans to build up to nine indoor smoking areas there, though, ran amuck a year ago when authorities reviewed the fine print of the widely heralded Tobacco Hazards Prevention and Control Act. Indoor smoking areas at the facility would have violated the law.

When commenting on tobacco use in this space, I have admitted in the past to one of my many human weaknesses. I enjoy an occasional cigar. I do that in the privacy of my room, with windows open, hoping my foolishness will not make life difficult for anyone else or, heaven help me, sock me with a lawsuit or a police summons.

It seems reasonable that there ought to be a difference in smoking laws for public and for private places. What about smoking at international airports such as ours in Taoyuan and Kaohsiung?

The buildings are clearly for public use. People using the airports, however, may come from cultures that are less than aggressive in efforts to change citizens' smoking behavior or to protect non-smokers' rights. Should Taiwan amend its laws to make it possible for persons passing through airports to smoke in designated areas? As I ask the question, I am assuming such places could funnel fumes, not back into the building, but directly into the open air.

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