This is quite interesting - well, I find it so. Dutch courts have ruled that small bars and cafés employing no staff are within the law in allowing their customers to smoke. Introduced a year ago, the Dutch law on this matter was framed in terms of protecting employees against second-hand smoke. No less, but also no more. So without employees, a proprietor can let freedom reign. Freedom to smoke; freedom either to patronize the place or to avoid it.
In the part of this BMJ column that is behind a subscription wall, there is a telling opinion:
Onno van Schayck, professor of preventive medicine at Maastricht University, thinks that the Netherlands should have followed the same path as Ireland and the United Kingdom and banned smoking on grounds of public health too rather than just employee protection. He thinks that the law reflects Dutch concerns about government interference in people's lives. "It would not fit into a liberal Dutch way of thinking," he said.
There you go, the truth in a nutshell. Even if the only persons harmed by smoking or by associating with smokers are those who, knowing the risks, are willing to incur them, they should be stopped. To leave them be is too liberal. (Thanks: AC.)
