MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Smokers in France can no longer light up in public parks, on beaches or at bus stops. A new outdoor smoking ban went into effect over the weekend - no smoking anywhere children may be present, according to the country's health minister. Fines start at about $160. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley tells us more.
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: This park in Paris' 15th arrondissement was thronged with kids on Saturday - the last day you could relax and smoke a cigarette on the grass here, which is what Maya Martin and her friend Joe Camara are doing. But they support the ban.
MAYA MARTIN: I think it's a good thing because there's a lot of children around us, and it's not good to smoke around them.
BEARDSLEY: Smoking will also be prohibited within 30 feet of schools, libraries and any other place where the government says it could hurt minors. Health and Family Minister Catherine Vautrin called it another step towards a tobacco-free generation. These 29-year-olds say they both started in their early 20s, with the stress of college and cafe culture.
MAYA MARTIN: Glass of wine and a cigarette. So this is a whole - how can I say that?
JOE CAMARA: A whole mood?
MAYA MARTIN: Yeah, it's a mood.
CAMARA: Yeah (laughter).
BEARDSLEY: France's high smoking rates for Europe have come down in recent years, as the government banned smoking inside restaurants and cafes and raised the price of heavily taxed cigarettes. Today a pack costs about $15. Still, about 23% of adults smoke. That's twice the rate in the U.S. But a recent poll shows 68% of French people support even tougher restrictions on smoking in public, including banning it at outdoor cafes and restaurants, which are exempt under this measure.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER AND WATER SPLASHING)
BEARDSLEY: On Sunday, as the ban came into effect, youngsters splashed in a lake in Burgundy amidst soaring temperatures. 22-year-old Leila Guitry, who's smoked since she was 15, is sitting on her towel on the beach, puffing away. She says she wasn't aware of the ban.
LEILA GUITRY: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: "But I'm against it," she says. "Come on. We're outside. There's enough space to smoke."
And the children on the beach?
GUITRY: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: "It's always been like that," she says. "My parents were smokers, and now I smoke. That's the way it is."
Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Semur-en-Auxois, France.
(SOUNDBITE OF LOUIS ARMSTRONG SONG, "C'EST SI BON") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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