A parliamentary panel in cigarette-friendly
France called for the government to ban smoking
in public places like cafes and restaurants
in less than a year — and floated the
prospect of special "smoking rooms."
The government is
expected to decide on the proposed ban on
smoking in public areas by mid-October. France
would join Ireland, Spain, Italy and Britain
as countries that have adopted such measures.
In a symbolic gesture, the president of the
French parliament's lower house said its tobacco
shop will close Jan. 1. Jean-Louis said the
chamber should set an example.
A ban would send a shock through France's
smoker-friendly culture, where smoky cafes
have long been redoubts of Paris' intelligentsia.
The French presidency's Web site features
a photo of a young President
Jacques Chirac with a cigarette in
his mouth.
It has come with health consequences. The
panel said 3,000-5,000 people die every year
in France from second-hand smoke. "The status
quo is not acceptable," its report said.
The panel urged a ban on smoking in public
places and offices no later than Sept. 1 next
year, and rejected the possibility of smoking
areas other than in "optional" closed smoking
rooms with smoke-removal systems.
The smoking rooms would be "hermetically
sealed spaces, equipped with smoke-extraction
systems and strict health rules," the panel
said. But in places like cafes, no table service
would be allowed inside them in order to protect
the health of waiters.
Socialist lawmaker Claude Evin, an anti-smoking
crusader who headed the panel, said details
of such smoking rooms remained to be worked
out — but at first glance they appeared
"virtually unfeasible."
The panel advised that the government adopt
a ban by decree, because parliament's "heavy
load" of business in coming months may make
it difficult to legislate.
Evin and other supporters of a ban fear a
decree would be too weak, insisting a parliamentary
vote would carry the weight of law —
and thus force people to comply.
A top hospitality industry association and
a representative for France's tobacco vendors'
union said their livelihoods would suffer.
"This is an extreme measure," said Rene Le
Pape, the vendors' association representative,
on RMC radio, saying his members wanted some
exceptions — such as exemptions for bars
that sell tobacco products.
