PROPÓSITO
2 Proponer(se) ,vt 1: Aspirar como una meta para uno mismo:
The first legal document regulating smoking in communist Poland was issued on 4 June 1974. It did not come in the form of a legislative bill, but rather a decree issued by the Minister of Health and Social Justice ‘regarding the limiting of smoking tobacco due to health reasons’. The
justification for the decree was presented in positive terms. Rather than a response to a growing
129 WHO Regional Office for Europe, "Survey on Smoking and Health in the European Region, 1974-
1975,"(Philip Morris Records, 1975).
130 Reubi and Berridge, "The Internationalisation of Tobacco Control, 1950-2010."
131 WHO Regional Office for Europe, "Survey on Smoking and Health in the European Region, 1974-1975." 132 Unknown, "Z prasy zagranicznej [From the foreign press]."
133 J. Chrzanowski, "Leżajska Wytwórnia Tytoniu Przemysłowego umacnia więzi z plantatorami [Leżajsk
Tobacco Production Plant strengthens ties with tobacco farmers]," ibid.1 (1981).
134 T. Czerski, "Tytoń w Polsce, jego przetwórstwo i poziom spożycia [Tobacco in Poland]," ibid.6 (1984). 135 J. Chrzanowski, "Leżajska Wytwórnia Tytoniu Przemysłowego umacnia więzi z plantatorami [Leżajsk
145 problem, it was framed as a new element that would support already existing socialist progress. The decree, according to the MoH, was needed ‘to continue the improving trend of the healthy and hygienic conditions in workplaces, educational institutions, in restaurants and other public utility venues, and with the intention of protecting the health of non-smokers and smokers, particularly preventing smoking-related diseases [...].’136
Amongst its key provisions were (see Appendix I for full text of the decree):
A ban on smoking in all facilities belonging to the Ministry of Health, including waiting rooms in healthcare institutions, in hospital wards, in university canteens, pharmacies, etc; and ensuring that non-smoking rooms exist in buildings in which smoking is allowed. A recommendation to other ministries, local government, and cooperative unions and
social organisations, to introduce similar bans in facilities for which they were responsible, for example:
o in restaurants, cafes, and ‘other facilities of collective nutrition made up of more than two rooms devoted to consumption’, as well as shops (these services in PRL were predominantly managed by the Ministry of Internal Trade and Services); o in suburban trains, station eateries, train dining cars, and waiting rooms at bus
and train stations (these were managed by the Ministry of Communication); o in cultural centres, public halls and clubs (managed by the Ministry of Culture and
Art);
o university lecture halls and seminar rooms (managed by the Ministry of Science, Higher Education, and Technology);
o on TV shows (for which the Radio and Television Committee was responsible). The Tobacco Control Decree initially received much praise from the public health community and the media. It was announced to great fanfare, also internationally. Newspapers from as far as Seattle reported on the introduction of the regulation: ‘Environmentalists and health authorities have new respect for the Poles, who sometimes are the brunt of cruel jokes. The Polish
government has forbidden smoking in restaurants, coffee houses, snack bars, commuter trains and lecture halls.’137 American press praised ‘Poland’s crackdown on smoking.’ It called the
136 Dz. U. 1974 nr 22 poz. 135, "Rozporządzenie w sprawie ograniczenia palenia tytoniu ze względów
zdrowotnych [Decree regarding limiting smoking tobacco due to health reasons]," Decree of the Minister of Health and Social Care issued on 4 June (1974).
146 regulation ‘the most far-reaching introduced by a government’ in global tobacco control.138 The
WHO Regional Office for Europe was also cautiously optimistic: ‘Although the official regulations are not as yet strictly adhered to, they seem to be profitable and promising. Non-smokers are no longer limited only to putting up a notice "Thank you for not smoking" on their desks, and more and more rooms are now marked "Smoking prohibited"’.139 The Polish anti-tobacco advocates
and the MoH hoped that the decree would provide a powerful lobbying tool for stronger regulations, and more coordinated anti-tobacco measures in the future.140
However, public health optimism about the Tobacco Control Decree quickly faded. Within a few years its most restrictive clauses were retracted, and enforcement of the remaining ones was half-hearted. The first victim was the ban of smoking on trains and in railway stations, which was cancelled after just one year, as travellers ignored the new rules.141 An example of how ministries
tried to shirk the responsibilities put upon them by the MoH was the reaction to the decree, or rather the lack thereof, from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MSW). In 1976 the Department of Health and Social affairs of the MSW, frustrated by the inertia over implementing smoking bans within ministry facilities, called upon the Minister to introduce the provisions of the decree.142 It
took the MSW leadership until 1984 to begin responding to those calls; and then only for the legal office of the MSW to dispute the need to comply with the 1974 decree, stating that ‘the legal basis cited in the decree is inaccurate […] and its provisions are not binding for the Minister of Internal Affairs […].’143 The MSW claimed that while no regulations had been officially
introduced, the decree had been ‘acknowledged and observed’ by the MSW, the ban on smoking
138 E. Bourne, "Poland's crackdown on smoking," ed. Christian Science Monitor(Tobacco Institute Records;
RPCI Tobacco Institute and Council for Tobacco Research Records, 1974).
139 WHO Regional Office for Europe, "Survey on Smoking and Health in the European Region, 1974-1975." 140IPN BU 1098/11, "Projekt zarządzenia Ministra Spraw Wewnętrznych w sprawie ograniczenia palenia
tytoniu w pomieszczeniach służbowych jednostek organizacyjnych resortu spraw wewnętrznych [Proposal of a decree of the Minister of Internal Affairs regarding limiting smoking in organisational facilities of the ministry of internal affairs]," Institute of National Remembrance (1984-1985); IPN BU 1098/12, "Pismo PTP dotyczące ograniczenia palenia tytoniu [PTP letter regarding limiting smoking tobacco]," ibid.(1985-1986).
141 WHO Regional Office for Europe, "Survey on Smoking and Health in the European Region, 1974-1975."
142 IPN BU 0554/24, "Pismo Okólne nr 1/76 Dyrektora Departamentu Zdrowia i Spraw Socjalnych MSW z
dnia 26-04-1976 r. w sprawie ograniczenia palenia tytoniu ze względów zdrowotnych [Circular nr 1/76 issued by the Director of the Department of Health and Social Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on 26-04-1976 regarding limiting smoking tobacco due to health reasons]," Institute of National
Remembrance (1976).
143 IPN BU 1098/11, "Projekt zarządzenia Ministra Spraw Wewnętrznych w sprawie ograniczenia palenia
tytoniu w pomieszczeniach służbowych jednostek organizacyjnych resortu spraw wewnętrznych [Proposal of a decree of the Minister of Internal Affairs regarding limiting smoking in organisational facilities of the ministry of internal affairs]," ibid.(1984-1985).
147 in meetings and conferences had been broadly respected, and seminars had been organised for the upper management of the Ministry on the challenge posed by tobacco.144 However, when an
internal evaluation of the implementation of anti-tobacco measures in the MSW was conducted in 1987, it concluded that these were respected only to a minimal extent.145 The Polish public
health community was aware of the shortcomings and lack of enforcement of the 1974 decree. Prof. Woy-Wojciechowski, the President of the Warsaw Medical Association, in a radio interview in 1986 said that ‘it is truly embarrassing that the general rules governing smoking in Poland result mainly from fire safety and workplace safety regulations. [The 1974 decree], one of the first such legislative acts in the world’, in practice quickly disappeared in bureaucrats’ briefcases. Few have heard of it, even fewer observe it.’146