Chain-smoking Greeks face tough ban

Greece, which has been praised for its budget cutbacks and austerity program, is going after another vice: smoking.

Starting Wednesday, the Socialist government will impose a tough smoking ban that outlaws lighting up in enclosed public areas and prohibits tobacco advertising.

Offenders will be fined up to $12,750 and face swift prosecution.

With the help of Harvard University’s School of Public Health, the campaign will include an advertising blitz that hands out an anti-smoking board games to children.

And all this will be happening in a country where 42 percent of people over 15 smoke, well above the European average of 29 percent.

In Greece, where chain smokers are still fairly common, lighting up was once regarded by many as a symbol of the national disregard for rules. But the government thinks it’s now time to break the habit.

Deep in a debt crisis, Prime Minister George Papandreou is struggling to repair a near-bankrupt economy after decades of overspending.

Like the austerity plan, the smoking ban will help teach Greeks to consider the consequences of their actions, he said.

"It will contribute to the work we’re doing today that’s aimed at changing attitudes, norms and behavior to improve our quality of life and to make our country viable, not just its economy but in every day life,” Papandreou said Tuesday.

Gregory Connolly, a Harvard professor of public health, said Tuesday the smoking problem is enormous for Greece. Speaking to reporters in Boston, he said: “We can conservatively project that of all the children alive in Greece today, over 350,000 will be killed prematurely by smoking unless urgent action is taken.” Connolly and colleagues from Harvard and the University of Athens are gathering  data in Greek cities to gauge the effect of the ban.

The country’s Health Ministry says the measures are needed after efforts over eight years to impose partial smoking bans were generally ignored.

Starting Wednesday, offices and businesses will ban smoking and close popular smoking rooms. Those caught violating the new law will be fined between euro50
and euro500 ($65 and $650) and have their names recorded in an offender’s
database. Businesses will be fined between euro500 and euro10,000 ($650 and
$12,750).
 Martin Dockrell, of the British anti-smoking campaign group ASH, welcomed the
Greek measures as part of a growing recognition by European governments that
partial bans are ineffective.
 “I would expect Greece to experience some of the greatest health benefits in
Europe (from the ban) because it has such high smoking rates,” he told the AP by
telephone from London. “If (smokers) can cope with sitting on a street corner in
rainy London and windy Dublin, beautiful and sunny Greece shouldn’t pose much of
a challenge.” Dockrell says studies in England and Wales showed that pubs and the
hospitality industry did not suffer after a comprehensive smoking ban was imposed in
2007.
 But Greek bar and restaurant owners, already hit by a recession and a shaky
tourism season, say a dip in business could cost them their livelihood.
 “Obviously, customers will not stay as long if they need to go outside for a smoke,”
said Nikos Louvros, who owns a trendy central Athens bar, with laptops and
chessboards.
 “I can’t understand why smokers and nonsmokers can’t have their own areas.
You can filter the air, and everyone would gets what suits them.
 Louvros was so angered by a previous attempt to impose a smoking ban last year
that he formed his own pro-smoking political party that received some 1,500 votes in
the 2009 national election. He plans to run again in municipal polls in November.
 “Maybe we’ll win the race for mayor of Athens,” he said with a smile. “Then,
we’ll see what happens.”