France has struggled to kick its smoking habit. A new public health decree published Saturday aims to change that.
In the coming days, smoking will be banned in all French parks and sports venues, at beaches and bus stops, in a perimeter around all schools, and anywhere children could gather in public.
In a country where smoking has for generations been glamorized in cinema and intertwined with the national image, government crackdowns on tobacco use have met resistance.
“In France, we still have this mindset of saying, this is a law that restricts freedom,” Philippe Bergerot, president of the French League Against Cancer, told the Associated Press.
The ban aims “to promote what we call denormalization. In people’s minds, smoking is normal,” he said. “We aren’t banning smoking; we are banning smoking in certain places where it could potentially affect people’s health and … young people.”
Hellbound and Down 