Bermuda is on course to join a growing number of countries around the world that have outlawed smoking in all enclosed public places ? be they hotels, bars, restaurants, places of work or shops and theatres.

An Island-wide smoking ban in enclosed public places will now become the law of the land in 2006 if it is approved by the Senate following its acceptance by MPs in the House of Assembly yesterday.

Senators are expected to discuss the ban when they meet next week.

Making a case for the strict ban, referred to a raft of statistics and research that pointed to tobacco use being the second biggest killer of people in the world.

She said that half the people who smoke today can expect to die as a direct result of their use of tobacco.

That is why the Government is determined to put in place a blanket ban on smoking in enclosed public places, as well as outlawing cigarette vending machines and the selling of any tobacco products to youngsters below the age of 18.

Tougher health warnings on packets of cigarettes and a ban on advertising tobacco products at big sporting and outdoor events are also included in the Tobacco Products (Public Health) Amendment Act.

Mrs. Minors said Bermuda was following the lead of the World Trade Organisation in seeking to protect the rights of non-smokers not to have to suffer the effects of second-hand smoke.

Trying to have shared areas with smoking and non-smoking sections was also a non-starter, according to Mrs. Minors, who came up with an interesting analogy to demonstrate her point.

She said: ?Some may say that shared smoking and non-smoking areas will solve the problem of second hand smoke. Well I found a humorous analogy that speaks to this and that is; shared smoking and non-smoking areas is like having a urinating and non-urinating section of a (swimming) pool.?

The Health Minister will reserve the right to make exceptions to the blanket smoking ban leaving a route open, for example, for hotels to apply to have smoking rooms.

She also said that the smoking regulations would be brought in gradually. The ban on tobacco promotions and selling to under 18s would, if passed by the Senate, be brought in on January 1, while the smoking ban for enclosed public places would not be enacted until April 1 and there will be no prosecutions for the first six months in order to allow people to adapt and get used to the new law. welcomed the legislation, but pointed out that it appeared to have stemmed from a motion by the UBP?s Deputy Leader Michael Dunkley in May.

She said: ?One in three people who are smoking now will die from smoking.?

Mrs. Jackson asked that health warnings on cigarette packets be large, covering at least 30 percent of the packaging, and suggested that nicotine substitute medication be made available to those who were seeking to stop their smoking but could not afford the substitutes to assist their attempts to kick their nicotine craving.

She also voiced concern that if places such as nightclubs became smoke-free zones it would lead to smokers having to congregate on the streets outside to have a smoke and this might cause problems with ?clogged pavements? security issues and even seem unattractive to tourists. said a first cigarette was a rite of passage in many neighbourhoods, however, it caused substantial health problems later in life.

Around the world someone died every 6.2 seconds from smoking, Mr. Darrell said.

However, he said a missing piece in the new anti-smoking bill was increasing tax on tobacco products to recur related health-care costs.

?Addiction is a disease,? Mr. Darrell said. ?This is the way the world is going. We all know people who are impacted directly or indirectly from smoking cigarettes.? declared his interest as a physician and said the next step was to ban tobacco completely from Bermuda.

?Smoking is the second major cause of death world-wide. Tobacco should be illegal. It worsens all other diseases,? Dr. Brown said.

He said his first cadaver at medical school put him off smoking for life, as it had died of lung cancer and its lungs were a ?horrible scene?.

Nicotine was second only to freebase cocaine in terms of the drug addicts found it hardest to kick for 100 days straight, he said.

He called for greater support for Nicotine Anonymous meetings in Bermuda.

We must step up as a community,? Dr. Brown said. ?We can?t stop being progressive because of fear of a backlash.?said tobacco took someone from him who he was very close to when his father died at 42, from smoking two or three packs of cigarettes a day.

?As a teenager no matter what we did, we could not get him to stop,? Mr. Dunkley said. ?We used to take his cigarettes out of his truck ? because he was not allowed to bring them in the house and he would keep them in his truck ? and my father would say if you touch them I?ll beat you. There was nothing we could do.?

He supported the bill but said the next step was to stop young people from smoking as it was often a gateway drug to marijuana.

?I am aware than clubs and bars have concerns their patrons will go outside and have a security issue with them going in and out,? he said. ?I hope the community can live healthier happier lives now.? said between 70 percent and 80 percent of adult smokers started before the age of 18 years old.

Mr. Lister said only a few years ago tobacco advertisements were always on television but had now been pulled from the airways.

?In Eastern Europe there are very few regulations when it comes to smoking,? he said. ?Indeed you and I remember Mr. Speaker when the back rooms of the House of Assembly used to full of smokers. You could smell the smoke in the chambers.?

But he said he did not know of one MP who still smoked. said if Government had not been pushed by Mr. Dunkley?s anti-smoking white paper the bill would not have been debated yesterday.

In response to Mr. Lister?s comment that Bermuda was at the vanguard of countries passing anti-smoking bills, Dr. Dodwell said that was ?errant nonsense? as New York had long since passed a similar law.

?This is the right thing for the hospitality industry. The customer has changed,? Mr. Dodwell said. said the new bill was direct conflict with the Summary Offences Act that said retailers caught selling tobacco to anyone less than 16 years old were liable on conviction to a fine and/or imprisonment.

However, the Tobacco Products Amendment Act 2005 only called for a fine for someone selling to under 18s, he said.

He said if the old law was not repealed, it could be seen as easing off illegal cigarette sales to young people.

Mr. Barritt admitted he was a reformed smoker who quit years ago and recalled when smoking on airplanes was socially acceptable and the power of advertising was such that even in the bedroom ?you had to have a cigarette afterwards.?

?There is no high from this like you get from drugs,? he said. ?Hopefully smoking will be something done between consenting adults behind closed doors.? responded that Bermuda got its cigarettes from a distributor in South America but there was a chance the warning labels on the packs reaching us could be made bigger.

?There is an opportunity to get Bermudian warnings already from the manufacturers. In other countries, in France for example, they have more significant, or hard-core warnings on the packs.?

The Health Minister said she was not going to entertain numerous plans from the public for designated smoking areas as she took the matter seriously.

With the banning of 90 cigarette vending machines across the Island came two redundancies, she said.

In Committee, Mr. Barritt continued his concerns about the two penalties for selling cigarettes to minors, but Mrs. Minors said she would consult the Attorney General.

?Our intention is to get the age to 18,? she said. ?There is no doubt about that.?questioned how the Act would relate to Government ferries and prisons. He also spoke about how hard it will be for employers to enforce the legislation.

?We all know how addictive smoking can be,? said Mr. Dunkley, who told the house how his place of work is already a non-smoking building but that there is a problem there with someone going into the men?s room and smoking. ?I get people saying ?boss, someone?s smoking in there?, but what can I do ? stand outside the door?? he said.

?There will be difficulty with this legislation bearing in mind the addictive nature of smoking.?questioned the use of the phrase ?retail shop? in the section outlining places where inspectors can enter to make sure the act is being adhered to.

Responding to these questions, said that ferries are classed as public vehicles and smoking will not be allowed on them. She said that the phrase ?retail shop? referred to establishments ?such as the place on Front Street that sells cigars.? She explained that, though not a cigar smoker herself, she understands that there is a process in buying them which involves testing the cigar. ?It?s not our intent to capture that particular kind of enterprise,? she said, explaining that premises selling cigars could apply to the Ministry for an exception to be made.

She added that prisons would be covered by the smoking ban unless they apply to her for permission to designate part of the prison a smoking facility. Government would liase with human resources professionals over the difficult issue of employers enforcing the Act, she said.