I noticed that in this situation, we see that French people take actions that are more direct than Americans. What I mean by this is that French people will speak their mind, whereas Americans will resort to indirect methods. The majority of French people will ask the smoker to stop smoking and that's the end of it. Americans will prefer to ask a waiter to handle the problem. Or if Americans do decide to talk to the smoker, the majority will say an indirect comment that it is a nonsmoking area instead of asking them directly to stop smoking.

I was wondering what the prevelance of smoking/non-smoking segregation in France is. Over the past 10 years or so, the US has done a lot to remove smoking areas from public places. In fact, the state of California is almost totally smoke-free. In France, how many places still allow smoking? Has this been changing in recent times?

Meanwhile, the American view of Europeans is that they smoke much more than us. I was wondering if the "other side" would agree with this impression, or if you had any other thoughts on the matter.

I've heard that more people smoke in France and yet there's a lower incidence of lung cancer. I've also heard that people drink more and yet there is a lower rate of alcoholism. If this is indeed true, do you have any comments on how you manage to pull this off?

thanks, Allison

Having just gotten back from a vacation in France, I saw exactly two restaurants with no-smoking sections. Everywhere else, you just dealt with people lighting cigars or cigarettes within 5 feet of you. I'm glad to be back in Boston where smoking indoors is illegal.

One very odd thing I noticed was that if a table of non-smokers (my friends and I) removed the ash tray from our table and put it on the next table over, a waiter always promptly put a new one on our table, as if we were expected to smoke. I know a lot of people smoke there, but I was shocked to find that the number is so high that a table of 4 college-aged students are simply expected to have at least one smoker among them.

About what percent of young people in France smoke? Perhaps this is why so many French students said it wouldn't bother them. You can't escape it, so you grow used to it. Even in a week I lost some sensitivity to the smell.

-Dina

Bonjour à tous Il est effectivement clair que la politique américaine anti tabac est beaucoup plus ( ou trop ?? ) importante qu'en France. L'interdiction de fumer est bonne si elle est appliquée pour préserver les non fumeurs qui pourraient être dérangés; cependant je crois que les Etats Unis ont pris une position extrémiste (c'est pas la première fois!) sur la question. En effet il est vraiment dommâge que l'interdiction de fumée s'étend à un état tout entier : les fumeurs se voient gênés parce qu'ils ne peuvent plus fumer librement (même si cela dérange personne) : là c'est grave car c'est un atteinte directe à la liberté !! Comme dans de nombreux domaines la France est toujours en retard de 10 à 15 ans sur les Etats Unis, Pour l'instant la situation est trés bonne puique dans de plus en plus d'endroits (bureaux, cafés, avions,...) il y des sections fumeurs et non fumeurs : chacun pouvant faire ce qu'il souhaite sans déranger les autres. Pour moi c'est la bonne solution.

PS: Je suis moi même non fumeur et je supporte mal la fumée.

Yoann,

You say the US has extremist positions on smoking, and that is true in certain areas. In Boston and several surrounding towns, it is illegal to smoke indoors in any public building (this includes restaurants and theatres and the like). I believe California (or at least parts of it) have the same laws. This is not universal here, though. In Philadelphia, smoking is not allowed in city-owned buildings (such as schools or city hall), but restaurants can choose. Most have a non-smoking section, but they allow people to smoke inside. That is not terribly extremist, and is far more the norm for the US than Boston's strict stance.

I, personally, prefer Boston's rules, though. Smoking is dangerous to the health not just of the smoker, but of everyone who smells the smoke second-hand. It is also incredibly unpleasant. I think the combination of the unpleasantness and unhealthiness makes the seemingly extreme laws of Boston completely justified. It's not fair for people to have to be exposed to such dangerous and disgusting fumes. Even a non-smoking section shares the air with any smoking section in a restaurant.

-Dina

I remember reading an article about why smoking is no longer allowed in many restaurants, on airline flights, etc. It's not necessarily for the health of the diners/passengers/et al., because they are not in contact with the smoke for that long. The main reason is the health of the servers/flight attendents/et al.; studies were done on how much smoke they were exposed to as a result of their job, and I think that some labor unions lobbied for the non-smoking laws, using the studies as leverage. I.e., the issue wasn't consumer comfort, but health of the work force. I'm originally from the DC metro area, and there, many restaurants allow smoking, but just in the bar area. If you want to allow smoking, I think this is a good compromise because the bar is usually in a separate room anyway, so the ventilation can be improved for just that room.

Je suis entièrement d'accord avec toi Anne, imposer une limite artificielle dans une piéce entre un espace fumeur et non fumeur me paraît être une solution idiote face au problème. Pour préserver les non fumeurs du tabac passif il faudrait créer des zones cloisonnées avec des systémes de ventillations efficaces. Cependant ces solutions étant honéreuses elles ne sont pas retenues : C'est d'ailleurs normal puisqu'il faudrait faire payer plus cher, mais les fumeurs n'accepteraient pas de payer pour le confort des non fumeurs et les non fumeurs ne supporteraient pas de payer plus cher pour le même service !!! C'est un problème sans fin .....

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hi evrybody

Je voudrais d'abord faire part d'une observation qui m'as beaucoup surpris dans les derniers messages en efffet pour comparer la législation Française et la législation Américaine pour ce qui touche au tabac, beaucoup on cité Boston ou il serait interdit de fumer dans un lieu public fermé. Pourtant en France la meme loi est en vigueur et les restaurants, les hotels et autres doivent avoir une zone fumeur bien séparer de la zone non fumeur. Je trouve donc que la législation n'as pas l'air si différente en France et que traiter les Américains d'extrémiste sur ce sujet était peut être un peu exagérer.