Waiters give bill to government, demand ban on smoking in dining facilities
Kyiv, May 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian waiters have handed a bill to the Ukrainian government for being forced to breathe tobacco smoke at their working places in dining facilities, and demanded a ban on smoking in such facilities.
Kyiv Association of Waiters and public activists presented a "bill for poisoned air" three meters high, which includes number of waiters who work in the smoking premises (30,000 people), the percentage of Ukrainians that have been poisoned in cafes (64%), the carcinogens in tobacco smoke (70), and also the increase in the risk of cancer, strokes, emphysema (by 62 times) and the number of deaths annually because of passive smoking (10,000).
The activists said "the price on the bill is the adoption of the law No. 9474" on the restriction of the number of places for smoking tobacco.
The coordinator of the media programs of the Life public organization, Yulia Solokha, at a press conference hosted by Interfax-Ukraine reported that she had started a national campaign to collect the signatures of employees of dining facilities to ban smoking in dining facilities and to adopt a corresponding bill.
According to her, public activists have already collected 500 signatures of employees of Ukrainian cafés, bars, restaurants, and are intended to continue the campaign.
"W'd like to draw attention of MPs to the need to ban smoking," she said.
At the same time, Solokha said the law on restricting places to smoke was approved at first reading by 324 votes and was recommended by the profile parliamentary committee on health care for second reading.
In turn, Chairman of Kyiv Waiters Association Oleh Onykiyenko said: "We'd like this bill to be adopted, because this is really a significant contribution into the development of the restaurant and hotel business in Ukraine. All of Europe did this a long time ago, and I hope we'll do this as well."