MILAN: Smokers in Italy’s financial and fashion capital face fines for lighting up on city streets and crowded public areas after the country’s toughest ban came into force on Wednesday. There is a risk that
Failure to comply with the new ban in the polluted northern Italian city could result in fines ranging from 40 euros to 240 euros ($41 to $249), a penalty that does not make sense to all residents. It’s not something I can do.
“I think the new law goes too far,” local plumber Morgan Ishak, 46, told AFP. “I agree with people not smoking indoors, not smoking near elderly people or children, but smoking outside… “To ban it would be to some extent restrict people’s freedom,” he told AFP. Before the ban.
Milan’s air quality ordinance, passed by the City Council in 2020, calls for a gradual stricter smoking ban.
From 2021, smoking will be prohibited in parks, playgrounds, bus stops and sports facilities.
According to the text, the latest smoking ban, which will come into effect from January 1, applies to “all public spaces, including streets,” except for “isolated areas where it is possible to maintain a distance of at least 10 meters from others.” Ru.
Local officials said in a statement that the measures were taken to “improve the city’s air quality and protect the health of citizens, including protection from second-hand smoke in public places frequented by children.” The aim is to reduce particulates in the atmosphere, he said.
Stellina Lombardo, 56, a non-smoker, said she supported a stricter smoking ban.
“I very much agree, as smoking is responsible for a lot of environmental pollution. In an era when we are suffering so much from climate change, such measures will have a devastating impact on the planet. “This will help reduce the impact of environmental pollution,” she said.
The ban comes ahead of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, but does not apply to e-cigarettes.
Located in the middle of the industrial Po Valley, with traffic-choked roads, Milan is one of the most polluted cities in Europe.
– cheap cigarettes –
Italy’s first national smoking ban went into effect in 1975, banning smoking on public transport, classrooms and certain other places.
In 1995, the ban was extended to administrative areas, and in 2005 to all enclosed public areas, making it a pioneer in Europe at the time.
According to the National Institute for Statistics (ISTAT), based on 2023 data, around 19% of Italians smoke, lower than the European Union average of 24%.
The average price of a pack of cigarettes in Italy is around 6 euros, one of the cheapest in Europe, and prices around 10 euros are common.
The Italian Ministry of Health says that 93,000 people die each year from smoking.
According to the World Health Organization, about 85% of all cases of lung cancer, the world’s deadliest cancer, are caused by smoking.
Seventeen countries in the European Union have passed smoke-free laws, with Ireland, Greece, Bulgaria, Malta, Spain and Hungary being the strictest.
In November, a world-leading proposal to phase out smoking among young people in the UK cleared its first hurdle in parliament, with MPs overwhelmingly voting in favor.
The bill would prevent people born after January 1, 2009 from legally smoking cigarettes by gradually raising the age at which they can buy cigarettes.
The government says its aim is to create Britain’s first “smoking-free generation”.
Sweden has the lowest number of smokers in Europe, with 8 percent of the population smoking.
Bulgaria is the worst, with 37% of smokers.
