The Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs in Hail is considering banning the sale of tobacco products at food stores in residential areas of the city as part of plans to discourage young people from smoking. The Chairman of the Municipal Council in Hail, Turki Al-Dhab'an, said the considerations come in the light of recommendations from a study proposing the designation of specific outlets and licenses for the sale of tobacco. The move, which could be finalized at the council's meeting before being referred to Prince Mit'eb Bin Abdul Aziz, Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs, and his Deputy Prince Mansour Bin Mit'eb Bin Abdul Aziz, would see strict regulations put in place on shopkeepers. “Shops in breach of the regulations could be shut down by the Environmental Health Department and given large fines,” Al-Dhab'an said. “The municipal council in Hail has received complaints from Saudis demanding a ban on the sale of tobacco in food stores, particularly in residential districts, and the move has come after noticing expatriate workers selling cigarettes to children,” Al-Dhab'an said. Al-Dhab'an described the study as a “national project” initiated by the Hail municipal council. Calls have been renewed, meanwhile, to enforce the smoking ban at the Kingdom's airports, with pilgrims and doctors lamenting the failure to see laws that go back as far as 1973 in place on the ground. Pilgrim Muhammed Al-Jahdli described the sight of tobacco advertising in public places as “annoying”. “It's particularly irritating for pilgrims who come from all over the world and the first thing they see when they come out of the airport is these adverts everywhere,” Al-Jahdali said. “They have banned cigarettes in Makkah and the vicinity so they should also ban them in airports which receive millions of pilgrims,” he said. Dr. Fahd Bin Muhammed Khederi, head of the Oncology Department at King Faisal Hospital in Riyadh, said the laws need to be put into effect. “The Kingdom's airports are very up-to-date compared to some countries but at the moment as soon as people go in they smell cigarettes. We need to get these laws working, first and foremost with airport staff who should set an example and quit,” he said. A 1973 law bans smoking in ministries and government departments and also requires signs and posters warning of the dangers of smoking to be hanged in prominent places in public offices. Another ruling four years later demanded the strict implementation of the previous law. Further regulations in the following years banned smoking in airports except in designated zones.
