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.
