France to Ban Smoking in Public Spaces From Tomorrow (Update1)
It makes my heart a little heavy to see France being infected with the anti-smoking disease.By Helene Fouquet
Jan. 31 (Bloomberg) -- France, the land of Gauloises cigarettes and haze-filled cafes, is banning smoking in public places starting tomorrow.
More than 15 years after the country began trying to curb tobacco consumption, the first phase of a new law goes into effect, banning smoking in schools, airports, hotels, offices and other public spaces. The second phase next year will prohibit smoking in cafes, restaurants and clubs.
``Nobody, not even I, thought a year-and-a-half ago that France would abandon tobacco so fast,'' said Yves Bur, a member of Parliament and a leading advocate of a broad prohibition of smoking. ``French people are ready. The image of the Gauloise cigarette in the cafe is almost dead.''
The curbs mirror moves in Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain, with similar bans planned in the England and being debated in Germany. For France, the prohibition reflects efforts to curtail a habit that kills 60,000 people annually, according to the health ministry. It also comes as the government struggles to narrow the public health-care deficit, which was 6.5 billion euros ($8.4 billion) in 2005.
Over 30 percent of the French population smokes, more than in any European country except Greece, where it's 42 percent, a French legislative commission report from last October showed.
The French restriction reinforces a 1991 tobacco ban called the Evin law that made it mandatory to create smoking spaces in public areas. Evin's rule outlawed tobacco-affiliated advertisement and consumption in offices and administrations. The law was never fully applied.
Fines Planned
The European Union's Commissioner for health Markos Kyprianou yesterday urged member states to enforce smoking bans in all public spaces, including cafes and restaurants. The EU said it will not introduce a continent-wide ban.
In France, starting tomorrow, smokers flouting the ban will be fined 68 euros and up to 450 euros if the fine isn't paid. Owners of premises that allow smoking will face a 135-euro fine, 750 euros if unpaid, according to the government.
``What used to be a social problem - the trouble with smoke and the need to maintain a good cohabitation between smokers and non-smokers - is today a public health challenge,'' a statement from the Health Ministry published after last November's decree to ban smoking.
More than 76 percent of French people backed the law, a BVA poll commissioned in November by the government showed. The survey also showed overwhelming support for the second part of the ban, which will prohibit smoking in cafes, restaurants, tobacconists and casinos starting Jan. 1, 2008. That ban has the backing of 74 percent of the French people.
Ban Confusion
The two-phase ban has created some confusion among hotel managers, cafes owners and customers. Hotels, for example, are considered public spaces, except for rooms, which are private. Cafes and restaurants in hotels are considered public yet they fall under the Jan. 1, 2008, rule.
``I have no fear for hotels, but more for cafes next year,'' Andre Daguin, president of the union of cafes and restaurants, known as UMIH, said over the telephone. ``There may be a loss in the beginning, but I think those who quit the bistros for the dirty smoke smell will come back.''
Several cafes and restaurants in France have decided to ban smoking pre-emptively before the full ban in 2008. Smoking in the streets remains legal.
``I gained 40 percent customers when I banned smoking in the bar and I'm fully ready for the ban in the rest of the hotel's spaces,'' said Flavien, the bartender at Café Laurent, a jazz bar in Paris's Latin quarter's Hotel d'Aubusson. ``I had no legal obligation to bar customers from smoking, but I feel people are ready, except for some moaners.''
Falling Consumption
Tobacco consumption in France dropped in 2002 and 2003 after the government imposed sharp increases in the retail price. The price effect no longer deters consumers, a National Institute for Health Prevention and Education study shows. France has more smokers today than in 2003.
Almost 49 percent of those aged 18 to 25 say they smoke, up from 40.3 percent in 2003. Tobacco sales in France advanced 2.3 percent in the first 11 months of 2006, Les Echos daily reported Jan. 29. In 2005, they stagnated at 14.64 billion euros.
The ban doesn't please everyone.
``A lot of smokers tell us that tobacco helps them at work -- to focus, to face stress and relax for a short while,'' Pascal Montredon, general secretary of the France Tobacco Shops' Confederation, said in an interview.
Fewer Heart Attacks
When Italy enforced a total smoking ban in all public spaces on Jan. 1, 2005, scientists of Torino's University in Northern Italy measured the ban's effect on health. In August 2006, the European Heart Journal published their study, which showed that in the Piedmont region, infarcts dropped 11 percent.
Heart attack rates fell by more than 25 percent in the 18 months after Pueblo, Colorado put anti-smoking laws into effect, a study by the University Of Colorado School Of Medicine showed.
``Before the end of the year, the number of infarcts will have dropped,'' French Health Minister Xavier Bertrand told La Tribune daily on Jan. 29. ``I want to double the number of those who will quit smoking,'' he said, to 1.5 million people.
