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You are here: Home News French News One year after ban, French smoke just as much

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12/12/2008One year after ban, French smoke just as much

The French Office for the Prevention of Smoking wants the government to increase tax on tobacco so people will smoke less.

PARIS – One year after a ban on smoking in cafes and restaurants, French people still smoke as much as ever, the agency charged with stopping them complained Thursday.
 
Annual tobacco sales have remained steady since 2004 - when the French smoked 54 billion cigarettes - despite measures to severely penalise anyone caught lighting up in bars and certain public spaces.
 
"Measures to prevent passive smoking have not had any effect on active smoking," warned the French Office for the Prevention of Smoking. "2008 will be the fourth consecutive year when smoking has not decreased in our country."
 
The tobacco ban has been largely respected inside French bars and bistrots, which often have large crowds of smokers gathered outside in the street or huddled around heaters on street-side terraces.
 
Restaurateurs and bar owners, however, complain that the measure has hit their custom and could force hundreds of businesses, especially small cafes in remote villages, to close their doors.
 
The anti-smoking agency called on the government to increase the tax on tobacco, arguing that a 10-percent price rise could cut sales by four percent and reduce the amount spent on health care for smokers.
 
[AFP / Expatica]


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