FRANCE TO BAN SMOKING IN PUBLIC AREAS IN EFFORT TO CREATE ‘TOBACCO-FREE GENERATION’

Sat 02 December 2023:

The French government plans to ban smoking on all beaches and in public areas, the country’s health minister said on Tuesday, after Emmanuel Macron promised to create “the first tobacco-free generation” by 2032.

In a statement, Aurelien Rousseau said that an average of 75,000 people die every year in the country due to smoking.

In a bid to decrease smoking-related deaths, he noted that smoking will be banned on beaches, in public gardens, public areas, and schools.

Meanwhile, the price of cigarette packs will also be increased gradually as part of the plan.

From now on, no-smoking areas will be the norm in France, said Rousseau, vowing to provide more support to those who want to quit smoking.

The government said that instead of smoke-free areas being decided by individual local authorities, central government would introduce a nationwide ban. “We are now shifting the responsibility and establishing a principle which will become the rule,” Rousseau said.

Taxes on cigarettes will be increased, with a pack of 20, now priced at about €11 (£9.50), rising to €12 by 2025 and €13 the following year.

The government also wants to ban “puffs”, single-use disposable e-cigarettes that Rousseau said were popular among young people, but which had a heavy impact on health and the environment.

After smoking was banned in French bars and restaurants in 2008 – later than in Britain, Spain or Italy – polls showed widespread approval by the French public.

Tobacco still causes 75,000 avoidable deaths in France each year, and police are facing what the government has called an “explosion” in contraband cigarettes

France’s public health body said last year there were almost 12 million daily smokers in France. Almost 32% of 18- to 75-year-olds said they smoked, and 25% said they smoked daily.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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