Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

SMOKING

Proposal to ban smoking in French films ridiculed in France

A proposal that France should ban the cigarette from the silver screen has been met with widespread derision and mockery among the French.

Published: 20 November 2017 10:45 CET
Proposal to ban smoking in French films ridiculed in France
Photo: AFP
French cinema is full of images of stars like Brigitte Bardot and Gerard Depardieu (see below) delivering cool lines with a cigarette perfectly poised in one hand. 
 
But all that could be about to end if Senator Nadine Grelet-Certenais gets her way after she reignited the debate over whether smoking should be shown on the big screen. 
 
 
The film-making industry in France has long been accused of “normalizing” smoking and Grelet-Certenais said the industry is practically “advertising for the consumption of tobacco”. 
 
“Seventy percent of new French films have at least one person in the process of smoking,” said Grelet-Certenais.
 
READ ALSO: 
€10 a pack of cigarettes: Will price hike help the French stub out their smoking habit?
Photo: AFP
 
“It participates in more or less trivialising it, if not in promoting it, with children and adolescents who are now the main consumers of series and film especially on the internet,” she added. 
 
French health minister Agnès Buzyn agreed with the Senator. 
 
“I do not understand the importance of smoking in French cinema,” said Buzyn adding that she would speak to France`s Minister of Culture Françoise Nyssen about “denormalising the image of tobacco in society”. 
 
The minister promised “firm action” against smoking on the big screen, but did not say whether she meant an outright ban. 
 
But the politicians will have a hard job of convincing the French if their reactions on social media are anything to go by. 
 
One person wrote (see below): “You can't ban the cigarette from French cinema under the pretext that it incites young people to smoke if young people don't go to see French films.”
 
Another mocked the idea, saying that if smoking was banned it might be a good idea to also ban swearing, crime and driving above the speed limit from the silver screen. 

Another reacted similarly: “So I guess it will also be banned in the movies to use drugs, to go beyond the speed limits, to cross outside the nails, and of course to kill. Crime films will take a hit. They are completely crazy.”

 
For the moment it's unclear what form the ban would take and whether it would affect only French films or foreign series as well. 
 
On top of that questions have been asked about whether it would be necessary to delve into the archives and remove the cigarette butts completely. 
 
The debate comes at a time when the French government is attempting to crack down on one of France's favourite habits with a promise to increase the price of a packet of cigarettes to 10 euros by 2020. 

 

HEALTH

How Spain could stamp out smoking

A fifth of Spain's population smokes on a daily basis. With such high numbers, here's how the country's pulmonologists propose to get smokers to quit.

Published: 5 November 2021 17:52 CET
Spain plans to get people to quit smoking
How Spain plans to get people to stop smoking. Photo: Khalil MAZRAAWI / AFP

For many outsiders, Spain is a nation of smokers. 

The stats from Spain’s Ministry of Health show that 23.3 percent of men smoke every day in Spain, compared with 16.4 percent of women.

For both males and females, the highest number of smokers are aged between 25 and 34, meaning that it’s the younger population who are smoking slightly more than the older generations. 

Spain’s pulmonologists are now pushing for the country’s tobacco laws to be tightened, claiming that reform is needed after the last legislation was approved a decade ago.

READ ALSO: Spain warns against smoking and vaping in public to avoid Covid infections

Why is smoking such a problem in Spain and what is being done about it?

The latest stats from the Spanish Ministry of Health show that lung cancer, often caused by smoking, is the third most frequently diagnosed cancer in Spain, with 29,549 cases diagnosed so far in 2021.

Given these high figures Spain’s Spanish Society of Pulmonology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR) has proposed five measures to help get people to stop smoking.

SEPAR points out that every time anti-smoking legislation is reformed and things for smokers made more difficult, the prevalence of smoking decreases.  

Smoking on terraces was banned in some regions during the pandemic. Photo: CRISTINA QUICLER / AFP
  • Price of tobacco to rise in 2022

The first point on their list is to raise the price of tobacco, which must cover all forms, from cigarettes to cigars, through to rolling tobacco, and electronic cigarettes.  

This first measure may soon become a reality as the Spanish government has already predicted that the price of tobacco will rise in 2022, after several years of stagnation.  

It is expected that tobacco will be responsible for almost a third of all special taxes received in 2022, equating to €21.8 billion.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “cheap tobacco” in Spain guarantees “a percentage of smokers above 30 percent”.

In Spain, the price of a pack of tobacco is around €5, which is much cheaper than in other countries. In Australia for example, a pack of tobacco costs around €22, and in the United Kingdom and France, each pack of tobacco costs around €12.4 and €10.5, respectively.

According to Dr. Carlos A. Jiménez Ruiz, pulmonologist and president of the society, the current anti-smoking law has “some deficiencies” that need to be addressed in order to develop legislation that is more effective and efficient, especially with regard to the prevention of tobacco consumption in young people, but also in helping smokers to stop smoking and in protecting the health of non-smokers. 

READ ALSO – Maps: Which beaches in Spain have banned smoking?

Besides increasing the cost of tobacco SEPAR proposes four other measures to get Spain to quit smoking. These include:

  • Banning the consumption of tobacco in public spaces, even outdoors
    During the pandemic, several regions approved a regulation to prohibit smoking on terraces. SEPAR proposes that smoking be prohibited not only in spaces such as terraces but also in sports stadiums, beaches, parks and bullrings, and that fines should be imposed for those who do not comply.

  • Establish generic packaging
    SEPAR also wants Spain to introduce generic packaging, which means no logos and images of the tobacco companies. This measure has also proven to lower the sales of tobacco in countries where it has been implemented, such as Australia and New Zealand. According to the latest statistics from the Australian National Drug Strategy Household Survey around 11.6 percent of adults in Australia smoke daily. 

  • The regulation of other smoking devices
    Despite the fact that all products that burn tobacco such as cigarettes are already regulated, SEPAR believes that it is also necessary to regulate the sale, consumption and advertising of electronic cigarettes. This is because e-cigarettes have become particularly popular among young people. 

  • Promote help for those seeking to quit smoking
    The last proposal is the creation and development of special units in public health departments to help people to stop smoking and to put more funds towards these programmes. 

How does Spain compare with other European countries when it comes to smoking?

According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), while Spain does have a high number of smokers there are still several European countries that have more. The European countries with the highest number of smokers are Greece, Bulgaria and Hungary.

The latest European survey from 2020 shows that 42 percent of Greeks claim to be smokers, which is only slightly above Spain. 

On the other side, the European countries with the lowest number of smokers are mainly Nordic countries, such as Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Norway.

SHOW COMMENTS