The contemporary self in tobacco control: exploring the introduction of the smoking ban in Ireland

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eluska Fernández
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Tobacco Control ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Smoking Ban ◽  
Political Speeches

This chapter is set in the context of the introduction of an outright ban on smoking in the workplace in 2004, an initiative that is widely regarded by Irish politicians, public health and anti-smoking advocates as a story of success, despite ‘common sense’ commentaries at the time suggested that the ban would be too radical a proposal.Drawing on commentaries from broadsheet newspapers and political speeches from the time, this chapter analyses the introduction of the smoking ban in Ireland as a successful exercise in ‘the conduct of conduct’ (Foucault, 1982) by exploring the types of conduct that were embraced and promoted in the context of the debates over the ban. Informed by the centrality of notions of rational, responsible and civilized selfhood in contemporary public health and health promotion discourses, the chapter reveals how notions of what came to be promoted as rational, responsible and civilized behaviours, and their flipside, irrational, irresponsible and uncivilized ones, were central to the exercise of power. It also reflects on how the regulation of smoking became interlinked with social and moral processes, and how some of these played a symbolic role in promoting boundaries between different social groups.

Insider Activists and Secondhand Smoke Countermeasures in Japan

Asian Survey ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Celeste L. Arrington
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Tobacco Control ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Secondhand Smoke ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Health Protection ◽  
Policy Entrepreneurship ◽  
Government Documents ◽  
Public Health Protection

Long considered a smoker’s paradise, Japan passed its strictest regulations yet on indoor smoking in 2018 with revisions to the Health Promotion Law and a new ordinance in Tokyo. Timed for the Tokyo Olympics, both reforms made smoking regulations stronger and more legalistic despite reflecting distinctive policy paradigms in their particulars. The national regulations curtailed smoking in many public spaces but accommodated smoking in small restaurants and bars. Tokyo’s stronger restrictions emphasized public health protection by exempting only eateries with no employees. I argue that fully understanding these contemporaneous reforms requires analyzing insider activists: state actors who participated in the tobacco control movement or had sustained interaction with it during earlier reform waves. Case studies drawing on interviews and movement and government documents illustrate the mechanisms insider activists can access because they straddle multiple fields. This article contributes to scholarship about ideas, policy entrepreneurship, and the blurry line between insiders and outsiders in policymaking.

scholarly journals Social networks as a public health tool - “Non-smoking bars and restaurants”

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
A Grujičić ◽  
S Mladenović Janković ◽  
D Matijević ◽  
G Tamburkovski ◽  
M Marković
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Networks ◽  
Tobacco Control ◽  
Second Hand Smoke ◽  
Smoking Ban ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Health Initiatives ◽  
The Media ◽  
Internet Portals ◽  
Second Hand Smoking

Abstract Issue/problem In Serbia, 34,7% of adults are smokers. Although Framework Convention of Tobacco Control was signed in 2005, there are measures still not applied. Implementation of the existing laws on tobacco control is inconsistent. Inadequate regulation is particularly related to catering objects - restaurants and cafes, which contributes to a general tolerance towards smoking. Although 84% of the population is aware of the harmful effects of second-hand smoking, complete smoking ban in restaurants and cafes is supported by only 19% and 14%, respectively. Description of the practice The initial idea was to identify smoke-free catering objects, as well as those that properly obey current laws. This led to creation of a Facebook page with a map of such objects in Belgrade. Another goal was to raise awareness about the effects of second-hand smoking and encourage people to articulate their needs, but also to emphasize the significance of this topic to the media and other relevant parties. Effects In two years, the page reached nearly 4000 organic followers. It is daily used for sharing news and study results and for discussing tobacco control related topics. Some posts reach up to twenty thousand Facebook users. The map includes over 100 strictly non-smoking catering locations. The page has been further publicized via popular internet portals, newspapers, TV channels, specialized magazines and foreign tourist guides. Lessons The page has revealed the suppressed need of the majority to express the intolerance to second-hand smoke. Even though most catering owners are hesitant to declare smoke-free areas, fearing a negative business impact, others see the page as a good promotion channel. The initiative has also been recognized by different parties with an idea of future joint action. Key messages Social networks are a powerful tool to broadcast public health initiatives and encourage people to take actions. Social media communities have potential to create a persistent influence on stakeholders to lobby for new regulations.

scholarly journals The Transformation of UK Tobacco Control

2019 ◽  
pp. 84-103
Author(s):  
Paul Cairney
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Tobacco Control ◽  
Policy Change ◽  
Behavioural Change ◽  
Policy Instrument ◽  
Smoking Ban ◽  
Policy Environment ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Evidence Based Model

The UK has one of the most comprehensive set of tobacco controls in the world. For public health advocates, its experience is an ‘evidence-based’ model for tobacco control across the globe, and for alcohol and obesity policies in the UK. In Scotland, policy-makers often described the ‘smoking ban’ as legislation so innovative that it helped justify devolution. These broad and specific experiences allow us to identify and explain different types of success. The UK’s success relates to smoking ‘denormalization’ and reduction, and the explanation comes partly from the ways in which policy-makers framed tobacco as a public health epidemic and produced a policy environment conducive to policy change. The ‘smoking ban’ success relates to the implementation and behavioural change that is lacking in most other countries. The explanation comes from the ‘window of opportunity’ for specific policy change, and the design of the policy instrument backed by the prioritization of its delivery by key public bodies. The overall lesson, particularly for advocates of evidence-informed policymaking, is that evidence only ‘wins the day’ when it helps reframe debate, produce a conducive policy environment, and actors exploit ‘windows of opportunity’ for specific reforms. In most countries, this did not happen.

Strengthening of occupational health promotion by the German Prevention Health Care Act

2019 ◽  
pp. 188-190
Author(s):  
Diana Hart
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Primary Prevention ◽  
Occupational Health ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Prevention And Control ◽  
Occupational Health Promotion ◽  
And Control

All countries are faced with the problem of the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCD): implement prevention strategies eff ectively, keep up the momentum with long term benefi ts at the individual and the population level, at the same time tackling hea lth inequalities. Th e aff ordability of therapy and care including innovative therapies is going to be one of the key public health priorities in the years to come. Germany has taken in the prevention and control of NCDs. Germany’s health system has a long history of guaranteeing access to high-quality treatment through universal health care coverage. Th r ough their membership people are entitled to prevention and care services maintaining and restoring their health as well as long term follow-up. Like in many other countries general life expectancy has been increasing steadily in Germany. Currently, the average life expectancy is 83 and 79 years in women and men, respectively. Th e other side of the coin is that population aging is strongly associated with a growing burden of disease from NCDs. Already over 70 percent of all deaths in Germany are caused by four disease entities: cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease and diabetes. Th ese diseases all share four common risk factors: smoking, alcohol abuse, lack of physical activity and overweight. At the same time, more and more people become long term survivors of disease due to improved therapy and care. Th e German Government and public health decision makers are aware of the need for action and have responded by initiating and implementing a wide spectrum of activities. One instrument by strengthening primary prevention is the Prevention Health Care Act. Its overarching aim is to prevent NCDs before they can manifest themselves by strengthening primary prevention and health promotion in diff erent sett ings. One of the main emphasis of the Prevention Health Care Act is the occupational health promotion at the workplace.

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