Last night the States voted, in principle, to follow the likes of New York and Dublin by banning people from smoking where other non-smokers may be present.
That includes all premises which serve food and all workplaces in the Island, which means that nightclubs, bars and pubs will become smoke-free zones.
People will still be able to smoke in al fresco areas, though.
The landmark decision will not come into effect until around 2007 once the law has been drafted and formally approved by the States.
Almost all Members, even those who admitted that they smoke, agreed that the time had come to stop inflicting potentially killer fumes on the non-smoking public.
Some politicians went as far as to say that the number of people smoking could also dramatically decrease as the new law would cut out ‘social smoking’.
Senator Stuart Syvret, president of the Health and Social Services Committee, which brought the proposition to the States, said after the debate: ‘I am very pleased with the result and surprised how many people supported it.
I was confident that the banning of smoking where people eat would be agreed, but I wasn’t anticipating that the feeling would be so strong that the House would also agree to banning smoking in the workplace, as that also included all pubs and clubs.’
