Health concerns surrounding the decision to pass smokefree laws

The Smoke-free Environments Amendment Act 2003 was passed by 68 votes to 52 on December 3, 2003. Labour forced all of its MPs to vote for it, while other parties allowed a conscience vote.

It was an amendment to the Smoke-free Environments Act, which was passed in 1990.

The amendment required that:

* Buildings and grounds of schools and early childhood centres become smokefree from January 1, 2004.

* Licensed premises (bars, restaurants, cafes, sports clubs) become smokefree indoors from December 10.

* Workplaces, such as offices and factories, canteens and smoko rooms, become smokefree from December 10.

* The display of tobacco products in retail outlets is restricted, and a "smoking kills" sign must be erected near the display from December 10.

Areas not covered by smokefree provisions include:

* Hotel rooms not frequented by workers (unless designated smokefree by management).

* Smoking rooms for live-in patients or residents of rest homes, hospitals and residential disability care institutions.

* Some work vehicles if everyone using it agrees and the vehicle is not used by the public.

Second-hand cigarette smoke contains a "lethal" mix of more than 4000 chemicals, the Health Ministry says.

Among them are ingredients used in paint stripper, mothballs, toilet cleaner, car batteries and car exhausts - 200 are poisons and 43 cause cancer.

About 350 New Zealanders die from exposure to second-hand smoke annually, making such exposure the leading environmental cause of death in this country, says the ministry.

Second-hand smoke is known to cause cancer in humans and has been linked to the development of lung cancer, heart disease, stroke and respiratory illnesses such as asthma.

Each year in New Zealand it is linked to:

* More than 500 hospital admissions for chest infections in children under 2.

* 1500 operations for glue ear.

* Almost 15,000 episodes of childhood asthma.

* 50 deaths from sudden infant death syndrome.

Under the new law employers must take "all reasonably practicable steps" to ensure no person smokes in an internal area.

Failure to take such steps could result in a fine of $400 for individual employers and $4000 for body corporates.