Windsor Essex County Health Unit
A breath of fresh air for patio season
With the change in seasons comes the
opportunity to enjoy the sunshine and fresh
air while eating outdoors at Windsor-Essex
bars and restaurants. But this year, you
might notice something a little different - no
more ashtrays on the tables, no cigarette
butts on the floor and most important, the
air around you will be free of drifting smoke
from neighbouring tables. This is the result
of some recent changes made to the
Smoke-Free Ontario Act (SFOA). The SFOA
was originally passed in 2006, and banned
smoking indoors at bars, restaurants and
other enclosed spaces. On January 1 of this
year, the Ontario government improved the
SFOA to further reduce Ontarians’ exposure
to secondhand tobacco smoke by banning
smoking on all bar and restaurant patios.
Many people mistakenly believe that
secondhand smoke is only an issue in
confined spaces like houses or cars, or that
outdoor tobacco smoke isn’t a health issue
for anyone except the person who is
smoking. This is not the case. There is
absolutely no safe level of exposure to
secondhand tobacco smoke. In fact, it
contains more than 7,000 different
chemicals and is a Class A carcinogen,
which means it’s known to cause cancer in
humans. A study was conducted on bar and
restaurant patios where people had been
smoking and found that the air quality was
comparable to that measured after a forest
fire in British Columbia, or to a smoggy day
in Los Angeles, which according to the
American Lung Association has the worst
air quality in all of the United States.
Less than 13 per cent of Windsor-Essex
residents are daily smokers, yet until
recently smoking has harmed the health of
all those who sit down for a meal next to a
smoker on a patio. This not only exposes
you to the dangers of secondhand smoke,
but also creates the notion that smoking is a
normal behaviour. Smoking on patios also
hurts those who are trying to quit smoking.
A recent study showed that it’s more
difficult for someone who is looking to quit
smoking when they have been exposed to
smoking on a patio during their attempt to
quit.
In order to ensure that these new
regulations are being followed, Tobacco
Enforcement Officers from the
Windsor-Essex County Health Unit will be
on regular patrol of local bars and
restaurants. Fines can be laid to the
individual who is smoking, or to the
business owner who is not enforcing the
SFOA on their property.
So this summer, when you’re looking to
find a spot to relax and enjoy the sunshine
on one of Windsor-Essex’s great bar and
restaurant patios, the only inconvenient
cloud you’ll have to worry about is the one
that brings rain!
For more information, visit the
Windsor-Essex County Health Unit
(WECHU) website at www.wechu.org or call
the Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention
Department at (519) 258-2146 ext. 3100.
For timely updates about health issues in your community follow the WECHU on
Facebook and Twitter @theWECHU
6 The HUB -June 2015