Smoking Threatened in France

Michael Moretti
Posted: October 6, 2006

Normally considered a bastion for lovers of the leaf, France may be on its way to passing a countrywide smoking ban.

A parliamentary committee passed a measure this week that would prohibit smoking in public places, including bars, restaurants and those iconic smoky French cafés famously frequented by the intellectual set. According to an article in The New York Times, the proposed law would allow establishments to have designated smoking sections as long as those sections were "hermetically sealed areas, furnished with air-extraction systems and subject to extremely rigorous health norms."

A smoking ban was on the verge of passing in April but was delayed because the country was experiencing wide-ranging protests over youth labor reform at the time. The government is expected to vote on the ban in mid-October.

Already the wind seems to be blowing the smoke out. As a symbolic gesture, it was announced that the tobacco kiosk in the National Assembly building will be closed in January. And according to numerous sources, 80 percent of the French population seems to be in favor of a ban.

Still, in a country as steeped in smoking tradition as France, there are many dissenters. Business owners, especially in the hospitality industry, claim a ban could hurt their bottom line, and others feel it is an infringement of personal liberty, not to mention French culture.

For more on this story, see the October 17 issue of Cigar Insider.

Photo by AP Photo/Francois Mori

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