Will it work this time? Greece has enacted an EU-regulation friendly smoking ban for public places in Greece beginning September 1st, 2010. While previous restrictions have been going into effect - at least in theory - over the past few years, this one is much more sweeping. With a high rate of smokers - nearly half of adult Greeks admit to the habit - the number of potential scofflaws is also high. So this time, the fines on businesses allowing smoking on the premises are high, and the government is promising to enforce the new fines - possibly because of the current Greek financial crisis. It's a guaranteed moneymaker.
The Greek passion for the habit is amazing, in spite of or perhaps even because of the risks. I talked with an older Greek who notes he's lost lung capacity and says he didn't quit early enough - he waited until he was over seventy. "Sixty would have been better," he noted blithely. Not smoking at all just wasn't seen as an option. Another younger Greek felt no shame in declaring himself to be a non-smoker to a potential girlfriend - after all, he smokes less than two packs a day! By Greek standards - at least until now - that was almost like not smoking at all.
How will the new Greek smoking ban affect your travels? You should enjoy cleaner air in restaurants and bars. Bans on public transportation have been in place for a while, and while sometimes breached, they seem to have been reasonably effective.
Need to start quitting before you go to Greece? Check out the About.com Smoking Cessation Site
Yes, indeed … a very serious article. In the beginning I truly believed that the EU actually cares for public health and (how is it called in the article?) …clean air for everyone, especially in bars and clubs. Nowadays however reports are quite blunt about it: It makes money for the state in terms of fines and it cuts down health costs for the state. So dear everyone, we will have to live with being exploited for an addiction and even being told so straight in the face.
I am just wondering, how can a public smoking ban work in a country that spends the majority of time outside, where clubs are open-air and plethora of street cafes where you sit outside anyway? A country, where it is warm from April to October, at least warm enough to sit outside?
Oh, yeah I see! The state is intending to make its money during the upcoming winter months.
I hope, sitting here in the far north of Europe, enjoying summers that just last a few weeks and fallen victim to this exploitation already … I truly hope that the Greek public will show the finger to the admin and continue smoking away.
I mean, it’s not that they have not given up too much already, is it?
If the public was honestly and truthfully informed about the effects of second-hand smoke, there would be fewer no-smoking laws in this country.
A little smoke from a handful of crushed leaves and some paper that is mixed with the air of a decently ventilated venue is going to harm or kill you?
There has never been a single study showing that exposure to the low levels of smoke found in bars and restaurants with decent modern ventilation and filtration systems kills or harms anyone.
As to the annoyance of smoking, a compromise between smokers and non-smokers can be reached, through setting a quality standard and the use of modern ventilation technology.
Air ventilation can easily create a comfortable environment that removes not just passive smoke, but also and especially the potentially serious contaminants that are independent from smoking.
Thomas Laprade
http://fightingback.homestead.com
As a greek-australian who watched her beloved father suffer a painful death from lung cancer caused by smoking, I am bitterly disappointed and frankly disgusted at these comments.
My father smoked for 50 years and only stopped when told he had cancer, well, you might say 50 whole years, but what a way to end your life, his last 5 years with agony, chemotherapy and pain, dignity stripped away.
And it’s not just you that suffers, your whole family lives with this pain and helplessness. So think about that next time you light up your smoke, feels great now….
I vist greece at least twice a year and last october whilst in Crete I notice a ”NO SMOKING” sign on only one of the tables in a particular taverna, although the owner was not enforcing the sign many customer from countries where the smoking bann is already in force left the tavena to go outside to enjoy their cancer stick. I have been stopped now for 5 years and my clothes no longer smell of smoke and i am very short of breath,and i really wish i had stopped 20 years ago. Don’t play at this bann embrace it and enjoy a fuller life.
Bottom line: can one still enjoy a cigarette in comfort no matter what the weather? That’s what determines whether or not I’ll visit Greece.
Also, the Greek people have been very militant in resisting their government’s previous efforts to make them pay for the current crisis. This latest attempt, which also attempts to engineer culture and
social life, should mmet similar opposition.
Eleni: other things also cause lung cancer. Are you sure your father got it from smoking?
Elefteris: having the government dictate what you can and can’t do every waking moment is not a fuller life.
I understand the resistance to have government intervention, and the cynic in me also wonders why the greek government has not acted until now (that money is needed) to enforce a ban on smoking. To:
Chris – yes Chris my father got lung cancer from smoking, and died a horrific death. He himself lamented in the last few years that he smoked away 2 houses and spent more time visiting doctors than enjoying the later years of his life and that he was sorry he ever picked up a cigarette.
Thomas – recommend you check this article -> http://www.care2.com/greenliving/smoking-kills-443000-americans-per-year.html.
I adore the birthplace of my parents and am filled with pride that my heritage is greek and ultimately I am greek. I love the country of Ellas, I dream of one day returning to live there on the island of Skopelos, but I also dream of a country that recognises smoking is a useless and harmful “act of enjoyment” that slowly but surely destroys the health of those who smoke, those around them, burdens our health systems and ruins our environment.
I’m sorry but there is simply nothing redeeming in smoking, and rather than shout out a democratic right to smoke, we should instead demand action at the grass roots, by shouting out the shut-down of companies that produce cigarettes and stop relying on the taxes.
Enough said from me, I wish to all good health. Eleni
Eleni: Yes, now how do they arrive at those numbers? One trick I’ve seen is this: they “link” a disease (like heart disease) to smoking and then proclaim that anyone who dies of that disease died of a “smoking-related” disease, no matter how much or little exposure they have to smoke. Did a doctor confirm without doubt that your father got cancer from smoking and nothing else?
Of course you’re aware that Greece has a very long life expectancy inspite of its high rate of smoking. Japan, also with a high rate of smoking, has the longest.
One more thing: if the ban “works” this time, that’s no guarantee smoking will decline. In fact, some places that have banned smoking in public (Ireland, Scotland, Canada) have seen a rise in smoking, especially youth smoking.
It looks like this is yet another smoking ban that the rebellious Greeks will flout. Kudos to the fighters. It makes me proud to be of Greek origin. I am all for healthy choices but not under government diKtate and false premises. If second hand smoke killed, at the rate Greeks smoke there would be no more Greeks left to talk about it!
http://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2010/10/07/15616901.html
Eight in 10 Greeks violate smoking ban
Eleni, I can understand how bitter you feel about your father’s death allegedly caused by smoking but not only do I second Chris’ post about it but I will add that finding something or someone to blame for a loved person’s death is a legitimate reaction. But once emotional reactions are put aside we have to assess the situation on a rational basis. There are many risks we take in the course of our lives and noone (not even our own children, let alone government) have the right to dictate to us how we live our life and what risks are worthwhile to us. What if you had constantly harassed your father to stop smoking and he had finally given in just to make YOU happy and 6 months later he died from let’s say a car accident? How would you have felt about your constant harassment to convince him to give up what he enjoyed, to make YOU happy?
My father died of liver cirrhosis and he was hardly what we can call even a social drinker. Like many good Greeks, he only drank on special occasions like X’mas and baptisms
Go figure!
I am an asthmatic and and regularly made ill by the selfish smoking of people in Greece – and those are not only Greeks. It all comes down to this: no-one has the right to pollute the air of others and make them ill. Any statement or behavior to the contrary is just ignorant selfishness. Pro-smokers in Greece are the most ignorant, selfish people I have ever met in the most backward of European countries. That is why the law needs to be enforced because people will simply go on indulging their habit with no thought at all for anyone else. Nearly every other country, even third world countries, are now enforcing smoking bans but not Greece. This is a fundamentally undisciplined society with an almost total absence of health promotion. Smokers in Greece deserve to get sick because they bring it in themselves and lack the will or character to stop what is, after all, a minor addiction. But non-smokers, including children, do not deserve to be made ill by the selfish stupidity of others.
@Iro and @Chris: what stupid statements! Greece has a huge rate of COPD and other fatal lung diseases and I suspect the situation is much worse that what is reported because this is a country which lacks a primary health care network (no GPs) and in which statistics are routinely massaged to look better. You also apparently have no understanding of what “risk factor” means. Smoking significantly increases your chances of getting thousands of life-threatening conditions and affects the entire body. Children exposed to your cigarette smoke have a greatly increased chance of dying prematurely. But you being able to smoke wherever you damn well like is more important, right? And you’re smarter and know better than every major public health organization in the world and they’re just making it all up purely to inconvenience you, right? Grow up.
I can’t believe you guys are proud that Greece is unable to implement a smoking ban. You should rather be ashamed. Turkey has a successful smoking ban and it is very well respected.
We visited Greece in July 2009 when the ban was supposed to be in effect – Well it was clear no restaurants or bars were going to enforce it. When we asked for non-smoking areas or tables we were given a look that said we were crazy. In the outdoor restaurants we tried to avoid sitting near tables where smokers were…But the worst experience was on the BlueStar Ferries. Even though there’s no smoking allowed inside, many rooms still reeked…and our cabins smelled of smoke. When we went out on the decks we still couldn’t enjoy fresh air – because so many people were smoking out there. BlueStar should perhaps designate a non-smoking deck outdoors….and enforce the laws inside. I’m going back this summer – hope it’s better…
Yannis: If you truly believe no one has the right to pollute the air of others, then I assume you don’t drive. Cars put far more pollutants into the air than cigarettes–let’s ban them, too! And anything else that pollutes the air.
There should indeed be set-aside places for people like you, but you don’t get to have 100% of public space your way. As for the selfishness of Greek smokers, maybe they saw what happened in the US, where smokers stepped aside and respected no smoking areas in the belief that nonsmokers would respect their rights in turn. This “mixed” system worked fine for many years, until some of the more fanatical antismokers decided that it was too tolerant and the push now should be to let smokers have absolutely nothing. And smokers in other countries see what happened once a little ground was given. Antismokers are like all fascists: they’re never satisfied, no matter how much you give up to them. That’s why I support this Greek rebellion –isn’t there a Greek holiday that celebrates “The Big ‘No’”?
It seems like you’ve drunk the Koolaid put out by the Antis. They do control many so-called health organizations, but not all unconditionally support their line. Check out Dr. Phlippe Even in “Le Parisien” (”They have created a fear based on nothing”). BTW, antismoking organizations are famous for doing some massaging of their own! If any of the stats i’ve quoted (they come from the anti-smoking WHO) are false, please let me know where I can find the truth!
Helpful hint: when you’re nasty to smokers and say you hope they get sick, it’s YOU who looks like the selfish, unreasonable one.
Sanja: A country is judged by how well it guards the liberties of its citizens, especially the rights of unpopular minorities. The Greek people have repeatedly made it clear that it is they who will determine what Greek culture and society look like.
Amalea: There are plenty of newly-sanitized Stepford countries with smoking bans you can visit. I believe in voting with my wallet: I used to love to visit Ireland and went every couple of years, but since they put in a smoking ban, I spend my tourist dollar where I’m welcome and won’t be hassled: places like Greece, Germany Austria, etc.
Utterly amazed by the ignorance and outright denial of fact. A little knowledge could certainly go along way. I hate being exposed to the 250+ known carcinogens placed in the air by some selfish individuals interests to pollute their and other’s lungs. People, nobody has the right to injure your body, whether hitting you with a car, punching you or damaging your lungs with their second hand smoke. Yes, the other two are drawing on the point that nobody has the right to infringe on your health, safety and well being because they feel like it. I am amazed by the ignorance and sorry for the people who get smoked out by the smokers. Oh wait, I must be a Fascist. -No, I am a never smoker with lung disease and respiratory problems and I am greatly affected by smokers and must avoid them. I would love to visit the country of my heritage. I’ll have to wait for more intelligence to reign and for more to respect health if a ban is merely disregarded as people feel the “right” to hurt others.