Smoking may be banned in parks

HEALTH Minister Marisol Touraine has proposed banning smoking in public places such as beaches, outside school gates and in parks.

In an interview with newspaper Journal du Dimanche, she said that as smoking kills 73,000 people each year there needed to be a “general mobilisation against tobacco”.

She said she wanted towns and cities to do more by creating “tobacco-free zones” in “parks, university campuses, beaches and in front of schools”.

“Is it right that mothers, fathers and childminders smoke in a park where children are playing? I don’t think so. Tobacco kills.”

Nice was the first city to ban smoking on a beach, last summer on Centenaire Plage in the town centre, and this year has added a second, Lenval. Offenders face a €11 fine.

Riviera neighbours Cannes, La Ciotat and Menton are following suit this summer along with northern beaches such as Ouistreham and St Malo.

Ms Touraine said that a sticker highlighting the dangers of smoking for pregnant women would also be added to cigarette packets, which went up by 20 centimes earlier this month.