Smoking Bans in Brazil, Bulgaria

From Bulgaria to Brazil, the push to ban smoking is firing up. As Agence France-Presse reports, the government of heavy-smoking Bulgaria is renewing its effort to prohibit puffing in all enclosed public places, including cafes, bars and restaurants. The government’s proposal, which would take effect June 1, would build on a 2005 ban that outlawed smoking in all government buildings, public transport, cinemas and schools. A previous effort to broaden the nation’s smoking ban failed last year. Bulgaria is second in the European Union only to Greece in the portion of its population that smokes. One survey, Reuters reports, found that 39 percent of the adult population smokes. Government figures put the nation’s smoking rate at 44 percent. In Brazil, President Dilma Rousseff today signed into law a ban on smoking in enclosed public places nationwide. As a recent report by The Associated Press explained, it imposes tougher restrictions than currently exist even in cities that already have smoking bans, including Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The national law’s added dimension: It prohibits even the designated smoking rooms in airports and bars that were permitted under local smoking bans. To crack down on the smuggling of cheap cigarettes from Paraguay, Brazil’s law also is imposing rules that will boost the price at which tobacco products can be sold. In addition, the law bars tobacco advertising where the products are sold. An advocacy group, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said this will make Brazil the largest country to have such a comprehensive smoking ban. The group also said Brazil is the 13th Latin American nation to adopt a comprehensive ban on smoking. One major country bucking the international trend to curb smoking is the Netherlands, where the tobacco industry is influential. As The Associated Press reports, the Dutch government has unveiled plans to reduce spending on anti-smoking advertising campaigns and to end funding for both health care programs to help people kick the habit and for operating a national center on tobacco control. “There’s no other country that’s taking these backward steps,” said Lies Van Gennip, director of the national tobacco control center, slated to be closed in 2013. “I’m ashamed of what’s happening here.”