EDITORIAL
Evidence
Evidence, ethics, hubris and the future of second-hand smoke policy
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Professor S Chapman
School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Edward Ford Building A27, Australia; sc@med.usyd.edu.au
Smoke-free workplaces and public placesthe ongoing debate
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
The news that French bars and restaurants will be smoke free by the end of 2007 led to hundreds of headlines, impelled by a "myth turned on its head" subtext. The tedious cliché that every second French citizens birthright requires them to sit in cafes smoking Gauloises and sipping pastis while reading Jean-Paul Sartre is about as accurate today as the view that Ireland is a nation of potato diggers or that all Italians obey the Popes dictums on contraception. Smokers have long been a minority in all three of these countries. Nonetheless, an "if they can, anyone can" incredulity has made these three nations decisions to ban smoking in bars globally newsworthy. Californian leadership was vital, but discounted by reasoning that alluded to their reputation for having all sorts of eccentric proclivities when it comes to diet and health. If, as expected, France follows the Irish and Italian
This article has been cited by other articles:
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Magnusson, R. S.
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