Going to bars hazardous to health: study

MANILA, Philippines – Going to entertainment clubs and bars could be hazardous to health, a new study by the Department of Health (DOH) warned.

The study found out that the level of pollution from cigarette smoke inside bars is 6 times higher than the acceptable level set by the World Health Organization.

DOH official Dr. Ivan Escartin said that even if bars have smoking and non-smoking areas, non-smokers would still inhale second-hand smoke that is dangerous to health.

“There’s this myth propagated by bar owners that we should smoke inside bars, na dapat wala na iyan eh,” he added.

The DOH is calling on local governments  to totally prohibit smoking inside bars.

According to a multi-sectoral health study headed by the Philippine Society of Hypertension, smoking is the number 1 cause of heart attacks and strokes that killed more than 40,000 Filipinos in 2008.

Aside from warning the public, the DOH is pursuing a campaign to regulate tobacco use through legislation like raising sin taxes and putting warning pictures on cigarette packs. –Apples Jalandoni, ABS-CBN News