In a bid to protect non-smokers from secondhand or passive smoking after effect, the Zimbabwean government has called on the law enforcers to descend on public smoking offenders as the ministry intensifies its crackdown on citizens reluctant to comply with the Public Health Act which prohibits public smoking.

According to the Public Health Act on tobacco, smoking in public places such as public transport, public halls, public gatherings, eating places including on the streets is an offence. All public smokers will be prosecuted. The offence attracts a $500 fine or a custodial sentence not exceeding six months," she said.

Home Affairs deputy minister Cde Ziyambi Ziyambi said the police would start enforcing the law as soon as they had completed educating the public.

"That is in order, but we will only arrest offenders once the public is aware," he said.

Passive smoking has been linked to lung cancer because secondhand smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals, many of which are irritants and toxins, and some of which are known to cause cancer.

There is some evidence suggesting it might be linked to lymphoma, leukaemia, brain tumors in children, cancers of the larynx (voice box), pharynx (throat), nasal sinuses, brain, bladder, rectum, stomach, and breast in adults.

South Africa became one of the first countries in the world to ban smoking in public places in 2000 when it introduced its Tobacco Products Control Amendment Act.

The act put a serious dent in the smoking culture in South Africa, as it prohibited smoking in restaurants, pubs, shopping centres and offices where there was no separate, enclosed smoking room.

The South African smoking laws were tightened even further in 2009 when the government banned smoking in partially enclosed public places such as covered patios, verandas, balconies, walkways and parking areas, as well as smoking in cars where there were children under the age of 12 present. Children under the age of 18 were also prohibited from entering designated smoking areas and purchasing cigarettes.

There are stiff penalties associated with anti-smoking legislation in South Africa, including hefty fines for both the smoker and venue operator.

SOURCES: www.myzimbabwe.co.zw, www.southafrica.net