Smokers across Bermuda could be left fuming as proposals restricting the rights of individuals to light up in enclosed public spaces look to be imminent.

Permanent Secretary for Health Kevin Monkman yesterday confirmed that a number of ideas are currently being drafted and will be formally submitted to Cabinet ?in the next two months?.

Mr. Monkman said he could not comment on the Government?s official stance, but said initiatives such as the banning of smoking in restaurants and bars were being ?actively considered? within the Ministry.

The announcement comes a day after the submission of a White Paper on Public Health to the House of Commons in London, urging the banning of smoking in restaurants and pubs which serve prepared food ? confirming that the ill-effects of passive smoking has become an important global issue.

From New York to California, Canada to Scotland, smokers have been marginalised following the publication of a number of recent scientific studies which have highlighted the serious health risks associated with socialising in smoke-filled environments.

Prominent local anti-smoking activist Charles Jeffers, a member of the lobby group Bermuda Advocates for Non Smoking (BANS), yesterday welcomed the news that ?progress was now being made?, saying he believes the long-term fight to oust smokers from public places ?is starting to be won?.

?We are very pleased to hear that Government is moving forward on this,? he said.

?I had a feeling, given the way other countries around the world are going, that the arguments we have been making for some time now would begin to make an impact. The weight of evidence about the health risks of passive smoking is now overwhelming and while we certainly do not question anybody?s right to smoke, the rights of non-smokers have been too often neglected.?

Shadow Health Minister Michael Dunkley also reacted positively, although he said Government had merely been paying lip-service to the idea for too long and it was now time to ?let actions speak louder than words?.

Mr. Dunkley, a long-term advocate of public smoking restrictions, is also president of the Mid-Ocean Club where he oversaw the banning of smoking in the club house ? despite an initial bout of vociferous protest.

?I?ve been trying to push this issue for some time in the House of Assembly,? he said. ?I must emphasise that I?ve got no problem with people smoking, provided they are not allowed to jeopardise the health of non-smokers around them.?

Any move towards anti-smoking legislation in Bermuda is sure to incur the wrath of smokers, with one person contacted by this newspaper, who did not wish to be named, arguing that such action would be a move towards a ?nanny-state?.

?I can understand the need for a segregation of restaurants, when people are eating,? she said. ?A pub or a bar is a place people go to drink and smoke and I have not been convinced by anybody that there is any need to alter this arrangement.?