Milan’s robust new ban on smoking on metropolis streets or crowded public areas doesn’t apply to e-cigarettes.
People who smoke in Italy’s monetary and vogue capital of Milan threat being fined for lighting up on metropolis streets or crowded public areas, after the nation’s hardest ban got here into impact on Wednesday.
Those that defy the brand new prohibition within the polluted northern Italian metropolis might be fined between 40 and 240 euros ($41 to $249), a punishment that doesn’t sit effectively with all residents.
“I think this measure is excessive. As long as we are talking about an indoor place, I agree. because (smoking) can be bothersome and it is not healthy,” gross sales clerk Myrian Illiano, 21, instructed AFP.
“But if we are talking about an open place, I don’t see why one should be restricted.”
Nonetheless, content material creator Chiara Ciuffini, 39, was all in favor of the brand new transfer.
“I agree, because I am a sporty, non-smoking person. I hope smokers can also understand the need of nonsmokers who want to breathe cleaner air,” she mentioned.
Milan’s air high quality ordinance, handed in 2020 by town council, referred to as for progressively stricter bans on smoking.
Beginning in 2021, it was forbidden to smoke in parks and playgrounds, in addition to bus stops and sports activities services.
The newest smoking ban, efficient January 1, applies to “all public spaces, including streets”, apart from “isolated places where it is possible to maintain a distance of at least 10 meters from other people”, in accordance with the textual content.
Native officers say the measure is aimed toward lowering airborne particulates to “improve the quality of the city’s air, to protect the health of citizens, including protection from passive smoking in public places, also frequented by children”, in accordance with a press release.
Emanuele Marinoni, vp of the Italian Tobacconists Federation and the proprietor of a tobacco store in Milan, mentioned he expects enterprise to drop by “20 to 30 percent”.
“When a person is in the office, (to smoke) they move to the balcony or to the street. It is obvious that there is bound to be a decrease in (cigarette) consumption,” he mentioned.
The ban—which comes forward of the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics—doesn’t apply to e-cigarettes.
Located in the midst of the economic Po Valley and choked with street site visitors, Milan is considered one of Europe’s most polluted cities when it comes to air.
Cigarette smoke, “like all combustion, contributes to the creation of fine particles”, mentioned Anna Scavuzzo, Milan’s deputy mayor.
Low cost smokes
Italy’s first nationwide smoking ban, in 1975, prohibited smoking on public transportation and in lecture rooms and sure different areas.
In 1995, the ban was prolonged to public administration areas, and in 2005, to all enclosed public areas, making it on the time a pioneer in Europe.
Some 19 % of Italians smoke, in accordance with the Nationwide Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) based mostly on 2023 information, decrease than the 24 % common inside the European Union.
Averaging round six euros a pack in Italy, cigarettes are additionally among the many most cost-effective in Europe, the place costs of about 10 euros are extra frequent.
Italy’s well being ministry says that 93,000 deaths per yr are attributed to smoking.
Smoking is liable for roughly 85 % of all instances of lung most cancers, the deadliest most cancers worldwide, in accordance with the World Well being Group.
Throughout the European Union, 17 international locations have handed smoke-free laws, with Eire, Greece, Bulgaria, Malta, Spain and Hungary the strictest.
In November, a world-leading proposal in Britain to section out smoking by younger individuals handed its first parliamentary hurdle, with lawmakers overwhelmingly voting in favor.
The invoice would stop anybody born after January 1, 2009 from legally smoking by steadily elevating the age at which tobacco might be purchased.
The federal government has mentioned it’s aimed toward creating Britain’s first “smoke-free generation”.
In Europe, the fewest people who smoke are present in Sweden, the place eight % of the inhabitants lights up.
Worst off is Bulgaria, with people who smoke making up 37 %.
© 2025 AFP
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