In effort to protect children, France bans smoking at parks and beaches

PARIS — A restrictive outdoor smoking ban has come into force in France, a country where café culture, which often includes a glass of wine and a cigarette, is a way of life.

As of Sunday, smokers are no longer allowed to light up in public parks, at swimming pools, or at beaches, or “anywhere children may be present,” said French health and family minister Catherine Vautrin, who pushed for the ban. Violators can face fines ranging from the equivalent of around $150 to several hundred dollars.

“Tobacco must disappear from places where there are children,” said Vautrin. “A park, a beach, a school — these are places to play, learn, and breathe. Not for smoking.”

Smoking is also prohibited within about 30 feet of schools, libraries, bus stops, and any other place where the government says it could hurt minors. The health ministry said it would soon reveal signs to designate such areas. Vautrin called it another step “towards a tobacco-free generation,” which she said France is targeting for 2032.

A poll out in May showed that 68% of French are for tighter restrictions on smoking in public, and even bans at outdoor cafés and restaurants, which are exempt under the current ban.

Supporters included 29-year-olds Maya Martin and Joe Camara, who were sitting in the grass in a Paris park, talking and smoking the day before the ban went into effect.

“I think this is a good thing because it’s not good to smoke around children,” said Martin. “That’s why we’re sitting away from all the kids, because otherwise we won’t be a good example for them.”

Both said they started smoking at university because of stress and because it was what everybody did. “Yeah, I started in the context of drinks and coffees at cafés,” said Camara.

Both said they are planning to quit, though Martin said it might be hard. “A glass of wine and a cigarette at a café, that’s kind of part of French culture,” she laughed. “It’s a mood and yeah, maybe that’s why I started to smoke.”

The French government banned smoking inside restaurants and bars in 2008 and has raised the price of cigarettes over the years in an effort to reduce smoking. Today a pack costs around $15. But this is the most restrictive outdoor ban ever to be enacted.

Smoking rates have come down in recent decades. About 23% of French adults smoke every day, according to government data from 2023. Though that is twice as high as the smoking rate among American adults, which was 11.6% in 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Smoking and smoking-related diseases kill 75,000 people in France every year, and cost French society the equivalent of more that $180 billion annually, says the OFDT (l’Observatoire francais des drogues et des tendances addictives) a French addiction observation group.

The new law does not include e-cigarettes. Critics say this defangs the measure, as e-cigarette companies attract young people with different flavored vapes.

As the ban came into effect on a broiling hot Sunday, adults and children splashed away in a lake in the Burgundy village of Pont-et-Massène. Jeremy Brigon watched from the beach. The 69-year-old no longer smokes, but he thinks this law is excessive.

“It’s too much,” says Brigon. “People shouldn’t smoke near schools, but there’s enough room on a beach for people to be able to smoke.”

Leila Guitry and Frank Chauvin were puffing away on their towels despite the ban. They say they knew nothing about it because they’re too busy working and don’t have time to watch the news. The 22- and 25-year-olds say they’ve both smoked since they were 16. And they’re absolutely against the measure. “We’re outside and there’s enough room to be able to smoke,” says Guitry.

But what about influencing young people?

“It’s always been like that,” she says. “Kids see people smoking. My parents smoke and I smoke now. That’s the way it is.”