In France, smoking is as intrinsic to the culture as wearing berets, drinking red wine, and eating gastronic delights. Even when I was in Paris recently, the smoke in the restaurants was incessant, but accepted.
Other countries in Europe have already banned smoking in all public places. Now, a French parliamentary committee has approved a proposal to ban it in cafes, hotels, restaurants, discos and casinos. These places could designate spaces for smoking only if they could be “hermetically sealed areas, furnished with air-extraction systems and subject to extremely rigorous health norms.�? But not all French people agree on what they call “the loss of a core French value.” Read the French Journal story.