Smokers' Rights Coalition Releases 'Smoking Area Notifier'... Preventing Fires and Secondhand Smoke

- Serious social damage caused by tobacco... Fundamental measures needed
- Wildfire vicious cycle due to climate change is a global issue, with most causes being 'cigarette butts'

The Smokers' Human Rights Solidarity (Representative: Park Sang-ryun), representing ten million smokers, announced on the 8th that it will launch the "Smoking Area Notifier."

The "Smoking Area Notifier" was created to help smokers easily find smoking spots and to prevent social losses caused by tobacco. Tobacco causes various social conflicts, including economic losses and casualties from fires, as well as secondhand smoke exposure to non-smokers who do not wish to inhale cigarette smoke.

Park Sang-ryun, representative of the Smokers' Human Rights Solidarity, explained the purpose of creating the Smoking Area Notifier as follows: "Since its establishment, the Smokers' Human Rights Solidarity has consistently provided information about smoking areas through its own blog. Although the blog's format does not allow many pieces of information to be viewed at once, it received a positive response, with over 70,000 people seeking information about smoking areas. To share this with more smokers and prevent social losses, we created it in a map format."

A representative example of social losses caused by tobacco is fire. According to a survey released by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, 40% of fires that occurred in Seoul in 2021 were caused by cigarette butts. The situation is even more severe in mountainous areas. According to the Fire Agency, 33% of wildfires that occurred from 2017 to 2021 were caused by cigarette butts. Wildfires are accelerating due to climate change. Unlike in the past, they are occurring longer, larger, and more frequently. This is the same worldwide, including Europe. Fires are likely to become more dangerous disasters regardless of whether they occur in urban or mountainous areas.

The issues of secondhand smoke affecting non-smokers and cigarette butt litter cannot be overlooked either. Due to insufficient smoking areas, non-smokers’ right to health is being infringed upon, and major downtown areas are suffering from cigarette butt litter.

Regarding this, Representative Park Sang-ryun stated, "Every right comes with responsibility and duty. Smokers can only claim their rights by fulfilling their responsibilities and duties. They should refrain from using cigarettes in fire-prone areas, and if use is unavoidable, they must fully extinguish cigarette flames and dispose of butts safely." He also emphasized the importance of smoking etiquette that considers non-smokers.

"Starting with this smoking area map, the Smokers' Human Rights Solidarity will actively continue its efforts throughout the year to reduce tobacco-related damage to half of last year's level," he added.

Since 2019, the Smokers' Human Rights Solidarity has been engaged in various activities to ensure tobacco consumers' right to know and protect public health rights, including demands for expanding smoking areas to prevent non-smokers' exposure to tobacco smoke and public interest lawsuits against excessive cigarette pack warning images that promote smoker stigmatization.

The newly released "Smoking Area Notifier" can be accessed on the official website, cafe, and blog of the Smokers' Human Rights Solidarity and will be continuously updated throughout the year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.