“We have come to the conclusion that smokers are not suitable for the education sector”. So says Yusuke Takakura, spokesman for the University of Nagasaki (Japan). The establishment has decided not to recruit any more teachers who smoke, unless they agree to stop their consumption, reveals theAFP. As of next August, the smoking ban will be effective on the entire campus. A clinic should also be opened for visitors who find it difficult to get rid of their addiction.
According to local media, relayed by the news agency, it is the first state university to impose such rules on hiring. However, these restrictions would not hinder the individual freedoms guaranteed by law, assures Yusuke Takakura.
Japan, a smoker’s paradise
The decision to introduce this employment condition comes just after the Tokyo city government adopted new anti-smoking rules stringent, ahead of the 2020 Summer Olympics. Laws that ban smoking in restaurants, regardless of size. Areas can be set up indoors, but customers cannot eat or drink there. It is also now forbidden to smoke in schools, from kindergarten to high school.
Hundreds of municipalities and several districts of the capital have already restricted the use of cigarettes in the streets, and this since the 2000s. But this, mainly to counter the risk of fires and keep the sidewalks clean. At the national level, a new law has been passed and should come into force next year. Only small restaurants (less than 100 m2) will become non-smoking. 55% of establishments will therefore be exempt.
These measures may seem surprising to us. The ban on smoking in all public places has been in force since 2008 in France. But Japan, considered a “paradise” for smokers, remains an exception in developed countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) credits the country with the lowest score in terms of efforts to combat passive smoking. According to the Japanese Ministry of Health, approximately 140,000 inhabitants die each year from tobacco-related illnesses, including 15,000 due to involuntary inhalation of smoke emitted by its users.
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