France to ban smoking outdoors in most places
From July 1, France plans to ban smoking on beaches, in parks and other places where children might be
By Laurent BARTHELEMY
France will ban smoking in all outdoor places that can be accessed by children, including beaches, parks and bus stops, the health and family minister announced Thursday.
Famed as a country where smokers linger over cigarettes on cafe terraces or strolling down cobblestone streets, France has increasingly tightened restrictions on tobacco use in public spaces in recent years.
The new ban, which will enter into force on July 1, will cover all spaces where children could be present, including "beaches, parks, public gardens, outside of schools, bus stops and sports venues", said the minister Catherine Vautrin.
"Tobacco must disappear where there are children," Vautrin said in an interview published by the regional Ouest-France daily on its website.
The freedom to smoke "stops where children's right to breathe clean air starts," she said.
The ban will also extend to schools, to stop students smoking in front of them.
Offenders face a fine of up to 135 euros ($154), Vautrin said.
The ban will not extend to France's iconic cafe terraces however, the minister said.
Electronic cigarettes, which have boomed in France in recent years, are also not covered.
France already forbids smoking in public spaces such as workplaces, airports and train stations, as well as playgrounds.
Anti-smoking groups had been fighting for a broader ban.
An estimated 35 percent of France's population are smokers -- higher than the averages for Europe (25 percent) and the world (21 percent), according to the World Health Organization.
Around 75,000 people are estimated to die from tobacco-related complications each year in France.
According to a recent opinion survey, six out of 10 French people (62%) favor banning smoking in public places.
The government's National Anti-Tobacco Program for 2023 to 2027 proposed a smoking ban similar to the one announced by Vautrin, calling France to "rise to the challenge of a tobacco-free generation from 2032".
But anti-tobacco organizations had voiced concern the authorities were dragging their feet on implementing the measures.
More than 1,500 cities and villages had already imposed their own bans on smoking in public spaces such as parks, beaches and ski slopes.
Vautrin said there were no plans to place additional taxes on cigarettes "at the moment", citing the thriving black market that emerged after existing taxes were introduced in a bid to discourage smoking.
© 2025 AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Today
2 days ago
- Japan Today
How social media can 'trigger' eating disorders in young people
By Chloé Rabs Social media can push vulnerable young people towards developing eating disorders by glorifying thinness and promoting fake, dangerous advice about diet and nutrition, experts warn. Young women and girls are much more likely to suffer from illnesses such as anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder, though rates among men have been increasing. Research has shown the percentage of people worldwide who have had some kind of eating disorder during their lives rose from 3.5 percent in 2000 to 7.8 percent in 2018, a timeframe that captures the rise of social media. For the professionals trying to help teenagers recover from these disorders, misinformation from influencers on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram is a huge problem. "We no longer treat an eating disorder without also addressing social media use," French dietitian and nutritionist Carole Copti told AFP. "It has become a trigger, definitely an accelerator and an obstacle to recovery." The causes of eating disorders are complex, with psychological, genetic, environmental and social factors all having the potential to make someone more susceptible. Social media "is not the cause but the straw that may break the camel's back," said Nathalie Godart, a psychiatrist for children and adolescents at the Student Health Foundation of France. By promoting thinness, strictly controlled diets and relentless exercise, social media weakens already vulnerable people and "amplifies the threat" to their health, she told AFP. Just one recent example is the #skinnytok trend, a hashtag on TikTok full of dangerous and guilt-inducing advice encouraging people to drastically reduce how much food they eat. For Charlyne Buigues, a French nurse specializing in eating disorders, social media serves as a gateway to these problems, which are "normalized" online. She condemned videos showing young girls with anorexia exposing their malnourished bodies -- or others with bulimia demonstrating their "purges". "Taking laxatives or vomiting are presented as a perfectly legitimate way to lose weight, when actually they increase the risk of cardiac arrest," Buigues said. Eating disorders can damage the heart, cause infertility and other health problems, and have been linked to suicidal behavior. Anorexia has the highest rate of death of any psychiatric disease, research has found. Eating disorders are also the second leading cause of premature death among 15- to 24-year-olds in France, according to the country's health insurance agency. Social media creates a "vicious cycle," Copti said. "People suffering from eating disorders often have low self-esteem. But by exposing their thinness from having anorexia on social media, they gain followers, views, likes... and this will perpetuate their problems and prolong their denial," she added. This can especially be the case when the content earns money. Buigues spoke of a young woman who regularly records herself throwing up live on TikTok and who had "explained that she was paid by the platform and uses that money to buy groceries". Social media also makes recovering from eating disorders "more difficult, more complicated and take longer", Copti said. This is partly because young people tend to believe the misleading or fake diet advice that proliferates online. Copti said consultations with her patients can feel like she is facing a trial. "I have to constantly justify myself and fight to make them understand that no, it is not possible to have a healthy diet eating only 1,000 calories -- that is half what they need -- or that no, it is not normal to skip meals," she said. "The patients are completely indoctrinated -- and my 45-minute weekly consultation is no match for spending hours every day on TikTok," she added. Godart warned about the rise of people posing as "pseudo-coaches", sharing incorrect, "absurd" and potentially illegal nutrition advice. "These influencers carry far more weight than institutions. We're constantly struggling to get simple messages across about nutrition," she said, pointing out that there are lifelines available for those in need. Buigues takes it upon herself to regularly report problematic content on Instagram, but said it "serves no purpose". "The content remains online and the accounts are rarely suspended -- it's very tiring," she said. The nurse has even advised her patients to delete their social media accounts, particularly TikTok. "It may seem radical but until young people are better informed, the app is too dangerous," she said. © 2025 AFP
Japan Today
5 days ago
- Japan Today
Australian mushroom murder suspect testifies about lethal lunch
An Australian woman accused of murdering three people by lacing their lunch with toxic mushrooms told a court she may have unwittingly used 'foraged' fungi in the dish An Australian woman accused of murdering three people by lacing their lunch with toxic mushrooms told a court on Wednesday she may have unwittingly used "foraged" fungi in the dish. Erin Patterson is charged with murdering her estranged husband's parents and aunt in 2023 by spiking their beef Wellington lunch with lethal death cap mushrooms. She is also accused of attempting to murder a fourth guest -- her husband's uncle -- who survived after a long stay in hospital. Patterson maintains the lunch was poisoned by accident, pleading not guilty to all charges in a case that continues to grip Australia. The 50-year-old choked up with emotion as she gave her account of the meal on Wednesday. She said she decided to improve the beef-and-pastry dish with dried mushrooms after deciding it tasted a "little bland". While she initially believed a kitchen container held store-bought mushrooms, she said it may have been mixed with foraged fungi. "I decided to put in the dried mushrooms I brought from the grocer," she told the court. "Now I think that there was a possibility that there were foraged ones in there as well." Patterson earlier told the court how she had started foraging for mushrooms during a Covid lockdown in 2020. She also told the court on Wednesday that she had misled her guests about the purpose of the family meal. While they ate, Patterson revealed she might be receiving treatment for cancer in the coming weeks. But this was a lie, she said. "I was planning to have gastric bypass surgery, so I remember thinking I didn't want to tell anybody what I was going to have done. I was really embarrassed about it. "So letting them believe I had some serious issue that needed treatment might mean they could help me with the logistics around the kids," she told the court. "I shouldn't have lied to them," she added. The prosecution alleges Patterson deliberately poisoned her lunch guests and took care that she did not consume the deadly mushrooms herself. Her defense says Patterson ate the same meal as the others but did not fall as sick. Patterson asked her estranged husband Simon to the family lunch at her secluded rural Victoria home in July 2023. Simon turned down the invitation because he felt too uncomfortable, the court has heard previously. The pair were long estranged but still legally married. Simon's parents Don and Gail were happy to attend, dying days after eating the home-cooked meal. Simon's aunt Heather Wilkinson also died, while her husband Ian fell seriously ill but later recovered. The trial is expected to last another week. © 2025 AFP
Japan Today
5 days ago
- Japan Today
Nigeria flooding death toll jumps past 200
By Nicholas ROLL Flash flooding in north-central Nigeria last week killed more than 200 people, the Niger state humanitarian commissioner said Tuesday, while hundreds more remain missing and are feared dead. The town of Mokwa was hit with the worst flash flood in living memory Thursday from overnight rains, with more than 250 homes destroyed and swathes of the town wiped out in a single morning. The announcement comes after several days of the official toll standing at around 150, even as residents were sometimes missing more than a dozen members in a single family. "We have more than 200... corpses," Ahmad Suleiman told Nigerian broadcaster Channels Television, adding: "Nobody can tell you the number of casualties in Niger state right now because up till now, we are still looking for some corpses. "We're still looking for more," he added. But, he said, "sincerely speaking, we cannot ascertain." Given the number of people still missing nearly a week later, the toll from a single morning of flooding in Mokwa could be worse than all of 2024 combined, which saw 321 deaths from flooding across the country. The Niger State Emergency Management Agency said Tuesday that the death toll was 159. Climate change has made weather swings in Nigeria more extreme, but residents in Mokwa said human factors were also at play. Water had been building up for days behind an abandoned railway track that runs along the edge of the town, residents told AFP. It would usually pass through a couple of culverts in the mounds and run into a narrow channel. But debris had blocked the culverts, forcing water to build up behind the clay walls that eventually gave way. Floods in Nigeria are often exacerbated by inadequate drainage, the construction of homes on waterways and the dumping of waste in drains and water channels. Federal water management minister Joseph Utsev said that the flooding was "caused by heavy rainfall due to extreme weather conditions occasioned by climate change", though he also cautioned against "unregulated structures" and called on local governments to maintain their drainage channels. Volunteers and disaster response teams have recovered bodies nearly 10 kilometers away after they were swept into the Niger River. Days before the disaster struck Mokwa, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency had warned of possible flash floods in 15 of Nigeria's 36 states, including Niger state, between Wednesday and Friday. When AFP reporters visited the town earlier this week, a powerful stench filled the air, which residents said came from decaying corpses trapped under the rubble. The government said it has delivered aid, but locals have criticized what they say is a lackluster response, with multiple families telling AFP they hadn't received anything. The National Emergency Management Agency issued another statement Tuesday saying it was "working tirelessly to provide immediate assistance to affected residents". © 2025 AFP
