Forbidden smoking under the sun. France has turned its beaches into free -free territory with a battery of fines of up to 750 euros for those who turn on a cigarette in the sand, the parks or a bus stop, something similar to what it seeks to impose the Ministry of Health, led by Mónica García in Spain. What in theory should be a step forward for public health and the environment has lit, never better, a storm of indignation. “It’s ridiculous, we don’t have freedom anymore!” Sandra protest, smoker of Palavas-Le-Flots, while off her hide cigarette, according to the local newspaper Hérault Tribune.
But not only to smokers bothers this measure, since until those who do not smoke it as an attack on the right to decide: “I am not a smoker, but this is a violation of freedom,” summarizes Inès, a neighbor of Narbonne.
You may be interested
The United Kingdom National Health Service issues an urgent statement for the recent “corn popcorn lung” disease
Hoteliers issue a statement for the prohibition of tobacco on terraces and warn of damage to the image of Spain
The scene is repeated in the French south, in the middle of a historical heat wave, as detailed by the report published in The Dépêchewhere the summers speechless before the decree published on June 28, a police officer who promises to control the impossible (90 kilometers of beach in the Hérault) and a party between the “necessary ecology” and the “infantilization” citizen. “They treat us as children. If there are children nearby, I move away. Why does the State bother us in public places?” Lanza Lambert, Cigarro in hand. Others do not even know how much risk: the sanction ranges between 135 and 750 euros. The only sure thing is that “the battle is between individual freedom and ecology,” says Mathieu, palavas waiter.
The government squeezes … but does not convince
The French government defends the measure with devastating figures: each year between 20,000 and 25,000 tons of butts on the beaches are abandoned, only one can contaminate up to 500 liters of water, and the tobacco kills 75,000 people a year in the country. The objective is, they say, “nudize tobacco and protect young people”, since 90% of smokers start before 18.
However, the beach distribution itself makes the distance between towels much greater than the one that separates the tables on a terrace, so that exposure to others’s smoke is minimal and the argument of the “passive smoker” loses weight against environmental pollution.
In addition, disbelief grows among many users when vapeo and heated tobacco systems are also banned, which do not generate butt, waste or passive smoker. “It makes no sense that it is prohibited from vaping on the beach, when we are outdoors, without waste or risk for others,” protest some bathers consulted.
Putting on the same bag the combustion tobacco and electronic devices, insist, only feed the feeling that the norm goes beyond environmental logic and becomes a social punishment. But neither the data nor the fine extinguish the discomfort: “The police can never control it,” Murielle resigns, a teacher who is impossible to watch the entire coast.
Spain follows the steps of France, but 70% refuse to prohibit smoking on terraces
The controversy crosses the Pyrenees. The Spanish Ministry of Health prepares a reform that would prohibit smoking and vaping on terraces and swimming pools. Unanimous reaction: 70% of Spaniards reject direct prohibition and prefer awareness before new restrictions, according to a Survey of hospitality in Spain. Even non -smokers consider excessive measure. “We talk about key spaces for the country’s social and economic life,” warns the employer of the sector. 62% fear that the veto damages the tourist image of Spain and 85% predicts a “rebound effect”: the smokers, far from leaving the habit, will transfer it to the street or private meetings, aggravating the problems of coexistence and cleanliness.
The fear of economic impact is real, since the terraces, in tourist or soft climate regions, are vital. “Prohibit without consensus is a blow to bars, employment and tourism,” the employer ends. The French precedent is clear, because Paris had to leave outside the hospitality in its last expansion of smoke -free spaces.
Prohibit or educate? Nor experts agree
While the government insists that “there is no healthy tobacco” and that “no alternative device reduces addiction”, the debate on the street and the beaches only grow. In the United Kingdom, for example, vapeo is promoted as a way to quit smoking; Here, not that. More than half of the Spaniards do not see the prohibition necessary, and 72% of smokers recognize that they will not change their habits.
The control, in addition, is a chimera: “With so much coast, the police can never control it. Prohibitions only work with education,” says Annick, exfuster.
The result is a divided country, inside and out of water. How far should the State go in the name of health? Is everything worth to protect the environment? What if the prohibition ends up fracturing coexistence instead of improving it? For now, the beaches are smokeless … but the controversy has just begun.