Atlantica - 01.05.2007, Page 11

A T L A N T I C A 
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Iceland doesn’t just keep up with
the latest in haircuts, fashion, and
wireless technology – the nation’s
public health policy is just as
trendy. Along with England,
Wales and Finland, Iceland
will be introducing a smoking
ban for bars, cafés, and
restaurants this summer.
From June 1 (July 1 in
England and Wales), a
breath of fresh air will
be blowing through
northern Europe as the
bans take effect.
The first-ever smoking
ban can be traced back to
1590 during Pope Urban
VII’s 13-day papal reign. The
provident pontiff saw fit to
ban the use of any tobacco in
and around churches against
the threat of excommunication.
The torch was later passed to the
Nazis, who, under direct orders
from Adolf Hitler himself, imposed
the first nationwide smoking ban.
While the current proliferation of
smoking bans (including much of
Europe and a fair number of
US states) has not incited any
world wars nor gotten anyone
e x c o m m u n i c a t e d ,
it has been a source of
controversy in some of
Europe’s more nicotine-friendly
nations like Germany, Italy, France,
and Ireland. Overall the new bans
stem from a policy of protecting
workers from exposure to second-
hand smoke in their workplaces,
an idea which has most recently
been extended to workers in bars,
restaurants, and hotels. A 2004 study
revealed that bars and restaurants
in New Jersey had more than nine
times as much indoor air pollution
as those of neighboring New York
City, where a smoking ban is in
place.
Most of Icelandair’s 23
destination cities have or will
soon have a smoking ban
for bars and restaurants (in
addition to those mentioned
above, Parisians have plans
to kick the habit in January
2008). Only six have no
firm plans to ban smoking:
Orlando, Baltimore, all three
German destinations, and
Amsterdam (though Holland’s
reasons for holding out on the ban
have little to do with tobacco…). JM a
Breathing Easy