Mumbai: Doctors set to move DGCA to ban smoking at airports

Mumbai: In a bid to make airports across India smoke-free, the cancer specialists from Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) are set to contact the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to implement indoor smoke-free policies at all airports. The oncologists said passive smoking- of second and third hand smoke – at the airports pose a huge cardiac and cancer threat to millions of fliers.

A team, led by cancer specialists, said they would write a letter to the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) after they did not receive any favourable response from Airport Authorities officials to whom they pointed out the violation of smoking policies seen at Mumbai airport. In a recent correspondence with Mumbai International Airport Private Limited officials, Dr Chaturvedi mentioned that the glass cabins of smoking lounges are cleverly designed to glamorize smoking.

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“There is nothing illegal about the design but it is shocking that your administration allowed them a location with the highest visibility that suited the cigarette industry rather than the passengers and airport staff,” said Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, International Federation of Head and Neck Oncologist Societies.

A senior official said among the 50 busiest airports in the world, 23 have smoke-free indoor policies. According to the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) of Centre for Disease Control (CDC), the leading national public health institute of the United States, Indira Gandhi International Airport New Delhi (ranks 21) and Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (ranks 29) are one of the 27 busy airports of the world which do not have any indoor smoke free policies. Smoke free policies substantially improve indoor air quality and reduce second-hand smoke exposure among non-smokers.