Abstract
The mayor of Sao Paulo, Paulo Maluf, has a bullish approach to arguing and is not renowned for his subtlety. Despite this he has been a key campaigner and instigator of various public health policies that form part of an international “healthy city” initiative. The most successful of these has been the introduction of a law making the use of car seat belts compulsory, which has led to a massive reduction in the number of fatal road traffic accidents. An attempt to prohibit cigarette smoking in restaurants has been less successful owing to a number of legal challenges that have left the legislation in a consitutional and legal limbo – but the fight goes on.
Highlights
An attempt to prohibit cigarette smoking in restaurants has been less successful owing to a number of legal challenges that have left the legislation in a consitutional and legal limbo - but the fight goes on
Faction took a public health stance and were quick to point to the literature on passive smoking and its adverse effects on health
For reasons that had more to do with party politics than public health, the State legislature passed, with unseemly haste, a law that in effect reiterated the pre-existing municipal law allowing restaurants with more than 100m2 to reserve half their floor space for non-smokers
Summary
Prior to Malufs anti-smoking decree, the previous municipal administration passed a law in 1990 stating that restaurants with more than 100m2 of floor space had to reserve 50% of the area for non-smokers. As is usual in such arguments the rights of non-smokers not to have to suffer the effects of passive smoking were ignored. Fig. L Paulo Maluf-Sao Paulo's anti-smoking mayor.
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