Smoking in restaurants in France finally gets snuffed out
January 17, 2008
2008 is the year that cafes, bistros and brasseries in Paris and throughout France quit smoking for good.
In France, and especially Paris, where cafe society and cigarettes have traditionally gone hand-in-hand, 2008 signals the end of an era.
In a ban that constitutes a seismic cultural shift for one of Europe’s last smoking strongholds, France now prohibits smoking in cafes and restaurants. In Paris, many cafes have put up never-before-seen no-smoking signs, forcing those who want to light up to go outside and brave the elements.
Starting Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008, smokers in France began risking hefty fines of between 68 euros (100 dollars) to 450 euros for lighting up in cafes and restaurants. The smoking ban in France officially went into effect on January 1. Business owners in France who allow smoking on their premises can be fined up to 750 euros for each violation.
After granting a one-day reprieve to smokers after the New Year’s holiday, some 200,000 public health inspectors, police and other state authorities went on patrol to ensure venues serving food and drink were smoke-free.
Ashtrays were swept away with the New Years’ confetti in most restaurants in France as owners opted not to set up the costly enclosed smoking areas that are still allowed under the law. Until now, “non-smoking” sections might often be just a table or two in the corner of a smoke-filled Paris brasserie.
Cafes, restaurants, nightclubs and casinos were compelled to join the ban on smoking 11 months after France’s workplaces and other public areas, where the change caused some grumbling but no outright opposition.
The ban has a huge effect on the lifestyle of smokers and non-smokers alike. Of France’s population of 60 million, about 13.5 million are smokers—more than 25%. According to the French health ministry, tobacco is the leading cause of avoidable death in France, killing 66,000 smokers every year while more than 5,000 non-smokers in France die of second-hand smoke. Despite opposition from some cafe and bar owners, the French government says smoking is a major public health challenge and hopes the ban will encourage French smokers to finally quit.
For American tourists visiting France, the ban comes as a most welcome change. “It was terrible, spending so much money on a wonderful meal in Paris, only to have it ruined by cigarette smoke,” said one visitor from the US. “Now I can relax in a café or a restaurant and not smell like an ashtray when I come out.”
“It’s a little strange,” said another American tourist, looking around the café Au Cadran on the boulevard Arago in Paris’ 13th arrondissement. “I’m so used to seeing smokers in cafes in France. But I can’t say I’ll miss it.”
But how are the French taking it?
“I’ll get used to it,” said a blasé Parisian, tossing his cigarette butt on a Paris boulevard sidewalk. “We’ve known for a while that this was coming.”
A similar ban went into effect in much of Germany and in Portugal as part of a growing European anti-smoking wave that began when Ireland outlawed smoking in public places in 2004.
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