Another Ban Failed: France Smoking Ban Up In Smoke

A non-smoking France? Non merci

18 Aug 2006
SUSAN BELL IN PARIS

AS THE well-publicised dangers of smoking cause tobacco consumption to decline in countries worldwide, France, home to Gitanes, Gauloises and the ubiquitous smoke-filled caf?, is bucking the trend.

For the first time since the French government increased cigarette prices by 40 per cent in 2002, causing tobacco sales to plunge a third, sales of tobacco in France are once again on the rise.

Figures released this week by the French Confederation of Tobacconists show that tobacco sales in France have increased by 2.8 per cent in the first five months of this year in comparison with the same period in 2005.

For five years, the anti-smoking lobby in France has been able to draw comfort from the fact that the number of smokers was decreasing, with the percentage of the population aged between 12 and 75 who smoke falling from 33.1 per cent in 2000 to 29.9 per cent in 2005.

The latest figures are causing concern among health professionals. A vast number of ex-smokers taking up the habit again, a wave of new smokers or a sharp drop in the number of French smokers buying their cigarettes across the border in Germany or Spain, where prices can be up to 2.25 cheaper, have all been cited as possible reasons for the rise.

“If it is because of new young smokers, then that would be a catastrophe,” said Yves Martinet, president of the National Committee Against Tobacco Consumption, who blames the government for failing to reinforce its initial offensive.

“The battle against tobacco use is effective if it is supported by different actions,” said Mr Martinet. “The countries where it worked increased prices, but also banned smoking in the workplace and in public places, launched education campaigns, banned sales to under-16s and offered help to those who want to quit,” he said.

Even raising prices only remains effective if subsequent price hikes are introduced and backed up with other dissuasive measures, experts say. After raising the price of a packet of cigarettes to 5 in 2002, the then prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin froze cigarette prices until 2007 after caving in to the powerful tobacconists’ lobby, who accused the government of depriving them of a livelihood.

French doctors have expressed their disappointment that the government recently suspended plans to ban smoking in public places.

Critics accuse the beleaguered prime minister Dominique de Villepin of dragging his feet over the measure in the run-up to next year’s presidential elections.

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France’s smoking ban retreat draws fire

April 21, 2006
MOLLY MOORE

After havoc over youth labor plans, leaders are said to be ‘startled by their own shadow’

PARIS – Julien Rey, a pack-a-day smoker, should be content with his government. It has just retreated from an anti-smoking law that would have banned him from enjoying a cigarette with a mug of beer at his neighborhood bar.

Instead, Rey views his leaders as spineless and paralyzed by fear of public rejection.

“They’re not going to do anything for a year, until the next elections,” said Rey, 28, at Aux Petits Tonneaux (“At the Little Barrels”) bar in central Paris. “And that’s too bad — we need a lot of reforms.”

In the nearly two weeks since French officials backed down from a controversial youth labor law under pressure from millions of protesters in the streets nationwide, the government has started retreating from laws — large and small — on subjects that include smoking, pollution and flea markets.

“The government leaders are so frightened they cannot move,” said Claude Evin, a former French health minister who has spent years advocating smoking bans and other health-related initiatives.

“They are startled by their own shadow. France is facing a terrible situation with such leaders.”

Government officials had been set to initiate the law banning smoking in bars, restaurants and other public venues in a few weeks, sweeping away a national ritual of a cigarette and a cup of coffee in a cafe.

Nonsmokers are very often assigned to the worst tables in the most cramped corners of restaurants.

At an April 12 breakfast meeting — two days after Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin gave in to the pressures of the public, his party and his president in withdrawing the youth labor law — Villepin and other government leaders decided to hold off on the smoking law.

“The government backed down because they already upset a lot of people lately and they don’t need bartenders and clients to be mad as well,” said Francois Attrazic, a restaurant owner in rural central France and vice president of the hotel, bar and restaurant association that represents about 80,000 French businesses and opposes a smoking ban.

At the same breakfast, according to the weekly newspaper Le Canard Enchaine, officials discussed weakening legislation that would make polluters — including farmers — responsible for paying to clean up rivers and lakes. That bill is scheduled for a parliamentary vote next month.

And this past Tuesday, Commerce Minister Renaud Dutreuil announced that the government is considering loosening the rules of another new law regulating vendors at flea markets.

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French puff on as smoking ban goes up in smoke

Apr 17, 2006
Kerstin Gehmlich

PARIS – Paris smokers and tobacconists puffed their cigarettes in relief on Thursday, happy they would not have to light up in hermetic cabins in the future after the French government postponed legislation to ban smoking in bars.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, weakened after a months-long crisis over a youth jobs law, on Wednesday delayed the proposals for a ban on smoking in public places and called for months of consultation on the issue.

Anti-smoking campaigners complained the government had sacrificed the health of millions to avoid a new controversy so soon after the humiliating jobs law debacle.

But smokers were happy.

“I love my daily coffee and cigarette,” said Louisa Bunz, 47, as she smoked in a central Paris bar.

Bunz said the government’s idea of making restaurants tobacco-free and force smokers into hermetic, ventilated phonebox-style cabins without drinks and food was ridiculous.

“It would be like a little smokers’ prison cell,” she said.

Anti-smoking campaigners say tobacco is responsible for some 60,000 deaths per year in France, a country where around a quarter of the population smokes. Surveys show a large majority of French people would like smoke-free restaurants.

“How many articles and reports does it take before a self-evident decision is taken?” said Gerard Dubois, health professor in northern Amiens.

“April 12, 2006 will mark the first day of a new public health scandal: The ‘contaminated air scandal’.”

Authorities have vowed to cut smoking in public places, in part an effort to attract health-conscious tourists. Smoking bans already exist in Ireland, Italy and Spain.

The government’s decision to row back on the issue surprised many smokers, who thought a tobacco ban was far less likely to draw millions onto the streets in protest than the now defunct First Job Contract (CPE).

“People are too lazy to take to the streets over smoking,” Arezki Messad said, as he enjoyed a cigarette in a Paris cafe.

Bar and tobacco shop manager Madjid Mezizenne said he was worried customers like Messad would stay away if the government imposed a ban.

“It would be bad for us, bad for sales. People are already smoking less and sales will fall further,” he said.

Under a 1992 law, French bars and restaurants have to set up clearly defined non-smoking areas but in practice, the areas are often not easy to identify.

Worried about the impact a ban would have on its members livelihoods the UMIH restaurateurs’ u nion said it opposed any “authoritarian ban” on smoking.

But economists discounted suggestions a tobacco ban would hurt the service sector or provoke renewed social strife.

“In terms of economic activity, I don’t see any impact,” said Mathieu Kaiser, economist at BNP Paribas in Paris, as people would likely continue to go to restaurants.

“One shouldn’t think that the French descend into the streets to protest against anything and everything,” he said.

France puts smoking ban on the back burner

16/04/2006
Kim Willsher

The tobacco-loving French will be allowed to carry on puffing their Gitanes and Gauloises in smoky bars and bistros after the government caved in on plans to ban smoking in public places.

Ministers, who had already abandoned a controversial youth employment contract after street protests and violence, were accused of “cowardice” by anti-smoking campaigners.

Existing laws require caf?s and restaurants to establish clearly separated smoking and non-smoking areas. Fed up with these rules being widely ignored, opponents had pinned their hopes on an outright ban.

President Jacques Chirac’s Right-of-centre government had promised to push a decree to this effect through parliament. Only a week ago, Xavier Bertrand, the health minister, confirmed that a ban was on the agenda and said he wanted the issue addressed “as quickly as possible”.

However, on Wednesday, soon after the government’s climbdown on the labour law reform, Mr Bertrand performed a U-turn. Instead of outlawing smoking, he announced a “vast consultation” on the issue, to be conducted over the next few months.

The Green Party accused the president and government of “sacrificing general interest for the wishes of lobby groups”, adding: “The government’s political line can be summed up in one word: cowardice.”

Even members of Mr Chirac’s own party, the UMP, were furious. Yves Bur, one of its MPs, who had proposed the smoking ban, predicted that nobody would be brave enough to confront the issue until after next year’s presidential elections.

“I’m disappointed that members of the majority are not capable of taking a decision that has the support of the majority of French people,” he said. “Once again the tobacco lobby has won.”

France’s long love affair with tobacco began in the 16th century, when Jean Nicot – the Frenchman after whom nicotine was named – became the first European to cultivate the plant. Thirty per cent of French adults smoke, down from a peak of more than half in the 1980s, but still an asphyxiating number, as any visitor to a Paris bar will know.

The president and Dominique de Villepin, the prime minister, feared that a smoking ban would cause further unrest in the wake of the job contract protests.

A photograph in the French newspaper Lib?ration added insult to injury for anti-smoking campaigners. Taken in the corridors of the Assembl?e Nationale, it showed a suited man puffing away… directly in front of a no smoking sign.

French smoking ban up in smoke

By Kerstin Gehmlich
April 14, 2006

PARIS (Reuters) – Relieved French smokers can muse that every cloud has a silver lining as they enjoy a cigarette at the bar with their morning coffee.

The government, weakened by a battle with u nions and students over a controversial youth jobs contract, backed away from a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants this week to avoid a confrontation with France’s many smokers and tobacconists.

The image of Parisian cafes filled with smoke from pungent Gauloise cigarettes has changed since Socialists forced hostelries to clean up their act in the 1990s, but the idea of a total ban in public places is still a source of controversy.

“Sell Out!” fumed anti-smoking campaigners who accused the government of sacrificing the health of millions.

But smokers, taxed to their filter tips in recent years, quietly puffed their approval after what they saw as a surprise last-minute reprieve.

“I love my daily coffee and cigarette,” said Louisa Bunz, 47, as she smoked in a central Paris bar.

The idea of making restaurants tobacco-free and forcing smokers into hermetic, ventilated phone box-style cabins without drinks and food was ridiculous, she said.

“It would be like a little smokers’ prison cell,” she said.

NO SMOKE WITHOUT FIRE

The government said on Wednesday it was delaying legislation to ban smoking in public places, and called for months of consultations. Two days earlier it had abandoned plans for a new jobs contract to make it easier to hire and fire young people.

Anti-smoking campaigners say tobacco is responsible for some 60,000 deaths each year in France, where about a quarter of the population smoke. Surveys show a large majority of French people would like smoke-free restaurants.

Since 1992, bars and restaurants are supposed to have up clearly defined non-smoking areas. In practice the areas are often hard to spot.

“How many articles and reports does it take before a self-evident decision is taken?” said Gerard Dubois, a health professor in the city of Amiens.

“April 12, 2006 will mark the first day of a new public health scandal: The ‘contaminated air scandal’.”

The authorities have vowed to cut smoking in public places, in part to attract health-conscious tourists. Smoking bans already exist in Ireland, Italy and Spain.

Many people were surprised by the government’s climbdown, saying they had not expected it to cause widespread unrest.

“People are too lazy to take to the streets over smoking,” Arezki Messad said, enjoying a cigarette in a Paris cafe.

But bar and tobacco shop manager Madjid Mezizenne said the smoking ban could have hurt business.

“It would be bad for us, bad for sales. People are already smoking less and sales will fall further,” he said.

The MIH restaurateurs expressed concern over the effects of an all-out ban, but economists discounted suggestions it would hurt the service sector.

Read November 2005: France says NO to ban