PARIS: France is further restricting smoking in public and increasing the price of a packet of cigarettes to €13 (US$14.3).
The smoking ban will be extended to beaches, parks, forests and public places such as schools, Health Minister Aurélien Rousseau announced in Paris on Tuesday. Disposable e-cigarettes are to be banned, reported German news agency (dpa).
The price of a pack of cigarettes will rise from around €11 to €13 by 2027, Rousseau said.
The aim is to push tobacco consumption out of public spaces and take away its banality, said the minister.
Around 200 deaths a day in France are attributable to tobacco consumption. The population should therefore also receive more support in giving up smoking. For example, pharmacies should be able to prescribe nicotine replacement therapies, the minister said at the presentation of the anti-smoking strategy.
People in France still take up cigarettes relatively often. According to the latest EU statistics, the proportion of people in France who smoke daily is 22.1 per cent of the population. In Germany, 15.9 per cent smoke daily. The EU average is 19.1 per cent. –Bernama
