Czech Republic: Anti-smoking Law in the Works

Source from:  Czech News Agency  07/22/2014

The Czech Republic, the last European Union member state where smoking in restaurants is allowed, is to ban it in a new anti-smoking law being drafted by the government, daily Mladá fronta Dnes (MfD) writes.

The Health Ministry will submit the bill regulating smoking in December at the latest, MfD writes.

"Cigarettes will no longer be sold at the chemist's. The fine for the sale of cigarettes to those who are underage will rise to 30,000 Kč," Deputy Health Minister Vladimír Valenta is quoted as saying.

This is the third attempt with which politicians have been trying to curb smoking, MfD writes.

The Health Ministry wants to reverse the unfavorable trend of the Czech Republic being the only EU country where the number of smokers is not falling, it adds.

In addition, the number of young smokers is on the rise, MfD writes.

"In all, the number of smokers ranges between 28 percent and 32 percent," Valenta said. "The problem is that their biggest number, more than 40 percent, is in the age group of 15–24 years."

The data appears in the latest "Report on the Health of the Czech Republic's Population" to be unveiled by the Health Ministry later this week, MfD writes.

"There are still some countries where smoking is more widespread, such as Greece, but there the number of smokers has been decreasing in the long run. Here, by contrast, it is still the same," Valenta said.

Addiction experts highlight that most smokers become addicted to smoking before their 18th birthday, MfD writes.

"We have the ban on the sale of cigarettes to those under 18, but it is not observed," Valenta said. "Monitoring has revealed that 65 percent of children get a pack of cigarettes without any problems."

Children also easily get hold of cigarettes, because they are cheap, MfD writes.

In the countries where the ban on smoking in restaurants was imposed, smoking at home was also reduced, MfD writes.

"Among others, the powerful tobacco lobby is behind this," Jiří Jerábek, an activist from The Czech Republic Without Smoke group is quoted as saying.

Many business people in the catering industry are opposed to the planned legislation, MfD writes.

"The market itself will resolve smoking in restaurants. In fact, some 60 restaurants are nonsmoking," Václav Stárek, from the Association of Hotels and Restaurants, told the paper.

However, the figures only refer to Prague and Brno, MfD writes.

"In small towns, families with children have no place to go. In Ústí nad Labem, north Bohemia, there are only five nonsmoking restaurants out of the 100 establishments," Jerábek said. Enditem