From: SMOKEFREE@compuserve.com
Date: Wed, 07/02/08
Public smoking becomes illegal throughout Germany
AFP
July 1, 2008
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hKdPUQS6iSWRzQf9WDyWC_bluKkA
BERLIN (AFP) - Lighting up in bars and restaurants become illegal across
Germany's 16 states on Tuesday, spelling the end of the country's status as
one of Europe's last smokers' havens.
North-Rhine Westphalia and Thuringia became the last two regions to
implement public smoking bans on July 1, all other states having done so
piecemeal since late 2007.
In Berlin, where a ban took effect on January 1, smokers were granted a
six-month period of grace that expired on Tuesday and those who breach the
ban now face fines of 1,000 euros (1,575 dollars).
In the eastern state of Saxony, fines can run up to 5,000 euros but in the
northern port of Hamburg and Thuringia, in eastern Germany, the highest
fine authorities can issue is 500 euros.
The wealthy southern state of Bavaria is considered to have the country's
toughest public smoking ban because it prohibits restaurants from opening
separate smoking sections -- a practice allowed in other states.
The new anti-tobacco laws have met with strong popular resistance and are
being challenged in courts around the country, where nearly one in three
adults smoke.
In Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and Rhineland-Palatinate, judges have lifted
the ban in single-room bars, provided the owners serve the drinks
themselves.
The German Constitutional Court last month began hearing three legal
challenges to the new laws, including one from barkeepers and nightclub
owners who contend that it interferes with their right to practise their
profession.
The German cancer association, which claims 3,300 people die from passive
smoking in Germany annually, said Tuesday that the extension of the ban to
all states meant "people can breathe a sigh of relief."
But the country's biggest anti-tobacco lobby, Pro Rauchfrei, has said
efforts to stamp out public smoking are doomed because the absence of a
single federal ban and the number of exemptions allowed by the courts have
created too much confusion.
- - -
Dutch smoking ban leaves toking option
AFP
Wednesday, July 2
http://ph.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080702/tts-netherlands-health-smoking-ban-50
9a08e.html
THE HAGUE (AFP) - - A tobacco smoking ban came into force Tuesday in cafes,
bars and restaurants throughout the Netherlands, with a uniquely Dutch
exemption for marijuana smokers.
While patrons are no longer allowed to light up cigarettes, they can still
smoke marijuana in the country's specially licensed "coffee" shops as long
as their joints contain no tobacco.
Many regular marijuana users prefer their weed rolled with tobacco and, as
joint content is hardly the easiest regulation to police, some coffee shops
have opted to switch their business to over-the-counter sales only, or to
erect specially designated smoking areas.
At the Florence coffee shop in The Hague, a brand-new sticker took pride of
place Tuesday on the counter over which marijuana and hashish is now sold
in take-away fashion.
"Hospitable as usual, but smoke-free," read the sign.
At the nearby Ceylon coffee shop, a handful of customers were enjoying
their joints in a glass-partitioned smoking area separating them from the
non-smoking sales kiosk.
As the law seeks to protect people from second-hand smoke inhalation,
waiters are no longer allowed to serve their customers a cup of coffee
inside the smoking room, so the owners put in a vending machine for nibbles
and drinks.
"I think it is bullshit, especially in a coffee shop," waitress Tjarda
Breuer told AFP.
"People who come here do so to smoke, and people who work here know from
the beginning that they will be working in a smoking environment. It is
their own choice."
The shop's manager, Monique Beyersbergen, said she expected an initial
slump in business, but hoped things should get back to normal within a few
weeks, "once people get used to the new set-up".
(excerpt)
- - -
First day of Iowa smoking ban
Casinos, State Fairgrounds, Vets Home exempt
By Bret Buganski
7KHQA
Tuesday, July 01, 2008 at 7:01 p.m.
http://www.khqa.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=153972
IOWA -- The state of Iowa is now officially snuffed out. Tuesday is the
first day of smoking ban across Iowa. For this KHQA FactFinder Report, we
found you can't smoke in any restaurants, bars and outdoor sporting venues.
But there are some exemptions. Those include casinos, the Iowa State
Fairgrounds, workplaces that offer quit-smoking classes and the Iowa
Veterans home. There's also a loophole in the law. Smoking is permitted on
outdoor patio bars that don't serve any hot food like hamburgers. Bars that
only serve food like chips and pretzels would be allowed to have smoking in
the outdoor patios. Under the new law, a person caught smoking in a banned
area is subject to a $50 fine. Businesses that don't enforce the ban face a
$100 fine for the first offense, and the fines go up with repeat offenses..
We asked Keokuk Mayor David Gudgel how police will enforce the new law.
"Our police department will respond to complaints when received but we're
not going to go out, at this point, like I said, looking for offenders, we
just don't have the time and the manpower and the money to do that," said
Gudgel.
For more information about the Iowa Smoke free Air Act, log onto www.
Iowasmokefreeair.gov.
- - -
Geneva and Zurich stub out smoking
July 1, 2008
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/front/Geneva_and_Zurich_stub_out_smoking.html?s
iteSect=105&sid=9283996&rss=true&ty=st
Tobacco exports flourish as Swiss smoke less There will be no more need for
ashtrays in public buildings in Geneva and in Zurich as smoking bans come
into force in Switzerland's two largest population centres.
Of the two cantons, Geneva introduced a stricter ban on Tuesday, which
includes bars and restaurants, while Zurich has only outlawed smoking in
public buildings.
Simon Küffer of the Swiss Lung League welcomed the moves by Geneva and
Zurich to protect the public from the risks of passive smoking. "We are
particularly pleased about the full ban in Geneva and also glad to see
Zurich moving in the right direction," he told swissinfo.
"We hope the Zurich ban will be extended to bars and restaurants after the
vote on the issue on September 28," he added.
Switzerland lags behind its European neighbours when it comes to
anti-smoking legislation, but measures are gathering pace at the cantonal
and federal levels.
The southern Italian-speaking Ticino region became the first canton to
introduce a smoking ban in indoor public places in April 2007.
Tuesday's additions bring to seven the number of cantons with some level of
smoking restrictions in public places. Most of the remaining 19 cantons
have similar projects in the pipeline.
Patchwork
While the patchwork of differing smoking bans continues to develop
independently in the cantons, the issue is also being addressed, albeit at
a snail's pace, at federal level.
Last month, the House of Representatives rejected a plan by the Senate to
ban smoking in restaurants. However, it came out in favour of granting the
country's 26 cantonal authorities the right to impose tougher rules than on
a federal level.
The situation leaves visitors to the country encountering different smoking
regulations every few kilometres.
There is no confusion for Switzerland's train passengers, however; smoking
has been banned on the entire Swiss public rail network since December
2005.
Küffer pointed out that the snowball effect of the individual cantons
adopting smoking bans would ultimately lead to a de facto countrywide ban..
"But we would still like to see a stronger federal law on the issue."
Fines
In Geneva, anyone who lights up in a public building, bar or restaurant,
now risks a fine of SFr100 ($98.28) to SFr1,000. Determined smokers will
still be able to puff away in Geneva's prison cells, private hospital rooms
and in designated hotel rooms.
It seems that train stations are a grey area in Zurich, with covered
platforms still deemed smoking-friendly while the station buildings will be
smoke-free. Authorities and the rail company are still wrangling over the
status of the partially open station concourse at Zurich main station.
The gradual stubbing out of cigarettes in Switzerland is part of a
Europe-wide anti-smoking trend.
While England looks back on one year of smoke-free workplaces and public
places, in the Netherlands a tobacco ban in cafes, bars and restaurants
came into force on Wednesday.
swissinfo with agencies
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