$750 boete bij thuisroken
In Montgomery County, een voorstadje van Washington in Maryland, is een wet aangenomen die mensen die thuis roken en daarbij de buren tot last zijn, een boete van $750 kan laten opleggen als ze niet maatregelen nemen die de ‘overlast’ opheft.
Gelukkig is er ook weerstand in de maak….
A suburb of Washington, D.C., has adopted one of the toughest smoking rules in the country, bringing anti-tobacco laws into people’s homes.
Under the terms of an ordinance approved Tuesday by the Montgomery County (Md.) Council, people smoking in their own homes could be fined as much as $750, if cigarette smoke bothers their neighbors.
According to a report in Wednesday’s Washington Post, the Montgomery County laws would create tough indoor air-quality rules that would treat tobacco smoke like harmful pollutants, such as asbestos, radon, molds and pesticides.
If cigarette smoke wafts into a neighbor’s home through windows, vents or some other opening, the neighbor could complain to the county’s Department of Environment Protection.
Some argue that secondhand smoke causes health problems in non-smokers, but others dispute that assertion.
The report quotes Montgomery County Executive Douglas Duncan as saying the law does not forbid people from smoking in their homes. “What it does say is that your smoke cannot cross property lines.”
ACLU Concerned About Property Rights!
But opposition to the ordinance is already forming. Tobacco companies are reportedly threatening a legal challenge, and American Civil Liberties Union is said to be concerned about property rights.
Other opponents are concerned that the law will unfairly target the less affluent who can’t afford detached homes.
Na 7 dagen werd de wet ingetrokken omdat die in zowel Amerika als Europa belachelijk werd gemaakt…
