From ABC , October 9, 2006
France to ban smoking in public
By Stephanie Kennedy
Smoking will be banned in all public places in France from next February.
Smoking is a well-known French past time but the Prime Minister, Dominque de Villepin, says smoking kills more than 13 people a day in France.
He called it an "unacceptable reality".
He has announced a ban on smoking in public places including train stations, museums, government offices and shops, but not on streets or in private places such as houses or hotel rooms.
Cafes, nightclubs and restaurants will be given until January 2008 to adapt to the new rules.
Those found in breach of the ban will be given fines - $130 for individuals and $250 for the premises where the offence occurred.
Recent opinion polls in France suggest 70 per cent of people support the ban.
Happy said:Little steps in the right direction.
But I am dreaming about the time when I will not have to hold my breath for 30 seconds or longer on approach of hospital or any government building.
Or having to go indoors just because neighbours smoke lingers to my place.
If tunnel stacks can have filtration installed, similar filtration can be used so cigarette smoke doesn’t leave smoker.
One day, maybe.
Nicks said:We all know that the governments are hypocrites. They will do whatever they can to get tax, and fuel and cigarettes get a lot of tax.
Regardless smoking is disgusting and a personal intrusion on my health.
I should have the freedom to move around without being subjected to it.
I should be free and able as a human being i n a democracy and free world to go to a bar without having to be subjected to cigarette smoke.
So should everyone.
If you want to filth your lungs, teeth, fingers and body odour with cigarettes, please do it in your own home, and not with anyone else present, like kids.
AND lastly, stop filthing the streets and environment with your butts. Should be an on the spot fine for throwing cigarette butts on the ground. For some reason smokers think its ok and not rubbish, well it is, the rest of us think it is and so does the environment and all its animal inhabitants.
Try walking along any city footpath and see if you can take 5 steps only without seeing a butt. What a sad disgusting world we live in.
Smokers are all suckers to tobacco companies. If you cal let someone convince you to pay money to injest something that is disgusting and dangerous to you health, then you are just simply an idiot.
noirua said:I agree with what you say, but try taking 5 steps without seeing a car. Asthma is said to have grown in numbers rapidly as car use has increased and smoking reduced.
Nicks said:Try walking along any city footpath and see if you can take 5 steps only without seeing a butt. What a sad disgusting world we live in.
noirua said:All very well and good Happy, however, one of the biggest polluters are those who use aircraft. A family taking a return trip, about 1,000 miles total, their share of pollution equates to between 30% and 50% of the average families pollution from electricity and gas for a whole year.
Families that have from 2 to 5 cars, using petrol or diesel, are equally as deadly as smokers.
So, fair enough, reducing smoking is a great idea, but many Governments are the greater hypocrites and exaggerators in what they front to have been achieved by a smoking ban.
Bloveld said:Hey you should take up smoking.
It would cheer you up a bit an might even get you off this world a bit sooner. Since you hate it so much.
Happy said:If cigarette butts could decompose in several months rather than 10 years plus would be a good start.
I saw many walkers picking up empty aluminium cans and I thought there is price for everything.
I extrapolated it a bit and thought about a bounty on collected cigarette butts.
Imagine how many cigarette butts there would be around if on top of $200 fine, every butt not fined for, collected and brought to collection centres would fetch 5 cents for example?
If nobody would be interested, we could make it 10 cents or 20, after all this is contract and price is negotiable.
RichKid said:okay guys, back to topic and let's not take analogies to an extreme.....
Nicks said:What's wrong with Soy Milkman? I drink Soy Milk, it tastes So Good on my cereal and So Good as a drink.
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