Italian bars, restaurants condemn smoking ban

Bar and restaurant owners are refusing to police a smoking ban when it takes effect today in Italy.

Bar and restaurant owners are refusing to police a smoking ban when it takes effect today in Italy.

The ban, delayed for a few days so revellers could enjoy their last New Year celebrations in smoky bars, aims to end passive smoking and deter those who choose to pursue a habit which health officials say kills 90,000 people in Italy every year.

"Those who want to smoke can do it in the street or at home but not right next to people who can't stand it and who cannot tolerate being poisoned," said the author of the new law, the Health Minister Mr Girolamo Sirchia.

Although smokers are in the minority, 18 million out of a total population of 58 million, many Italians are sceptical of a prohibition they feel smacks of American or northern European puritanism.

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The Italian law relies on bar and restaurant owners, the vast majority of whom have not built closed off smoking rooms, to ensure their customers do not smoke, with the threat of a fine of up to €2,000 if they do not.

But restaurant and bar owners say they refuse to be the state's sheriffs and will not call the police if their customers light up.

Ireland became the first country in the world to have a smoking ban in March 2004 but US states including Maine, Florida and California and the cities of New York and Boston, have had similar bans since 2003.