Pizza Hut ban smoking
It's a hard life being a smoker these days. Just one rung on the ladder below paedophiles and Nazis in the outcast stakes. So, no surprise that a UK nationwide chain of restaurants has decided to ban smoking.
According to the BBC, Brian Rimmer, operations director for Pizza Hut, said: 'Pizza Hut strongly believes that families should be able to take time to have a leisurely meal in a restaurant without exposing their children to other people's smoke. It is equally important that our staff can work in a smoke-free environment.'
The links between second-hand smoke and disease are tenuous. At a common sense level, something that gives you a fraction of the dose of actually smoking should only give you a fraction of the increased risk - if that. At worst, there is an increased risk of lung cancer of about 20-30 percent compared to non-smokers. But the risk for non-smokers is very low. So, 20-30 percent above a very low risk is still a very low risk. And this is probably as high as the risk can be stated. In May 2003, a report reanalysing the biggest study on passive smoking concluded there was no risk to adults at all (
see my earlier note about this).
It shouldn't be too hard for smokers, though. After all, who ever lingered in a Pizza Hut?
Pizza Hut bans smoking, BBC News, 17 August 2003