Quarter of people polled support a total tobacco ban

Almost a third (30%) of non-smokers and 23% of smokers polled by the Consumer Science and Analytics institute said they would support a complete ban. The survey came during November’s ‘Moi(s) sans Tabac’ campaign, an initiative by health minister Marisol Touraine to encourage smokers to quit en masse for at least the month. France currently has around 16 million smokers.

Proposals to raise cigarette prices – today around €6.50 a packet – were more popular among non-smokers (27%) than smokers (15%) and smokers preferred increasing reimbursement levels for aids to help them quit. Reimbursements for patches and other nicotine substitutes were recently increased to €150 (from €50).

Cigarette packets also changed last month with tabacs only receiving new ‘plain’ packs with no logos or company colours.