“Removing the ashtray from the convenience store” Demonstration experiment to prevent passive smoking damage Oita September 17th 14:32
In order to prevent the damage caused by passive smoking, the first large-scale demonstration experiment in Japan was started in Oita Prefecture to confirm the effect by removing the ashtray from the convenience store premises.
At convenience stores used by many people, from children to the elderly, Oita Prefecture conducted an experiment, as passive smoking may be unavoidable when entering or leaving the store if there is an ashtray near the entrance.
Participating in the four convenience stores of Lawson, Seven-Eleven, FamilyMart, and Daily Yamazaki were 253 stores, about half of the stores where ashtrays are installed.
Among them, at the Lawson Oita Shimo-gun Minami 5-chome store in Oita City, employees immediately removed the ashtray in front of the store around 9:30 am on the 17th.
After conducting an experiment until the end of next month, Oita Prefecture will verify the effectiveness of each store by conducting questionnaires on whether customers and employees want to react and whether they want to continue their efforts.
According to the prefecture, it is the first time in the country that municipalities and convenience stores have collaborated to conduct such large-scale experiments.
“I hope that more and more stores will be able to remove ashtrays after the end of the initiative,” said Shuji Fujiuchi, manager of the Oita Health Promotion Support Division.