Public opinion supports government anti-tobacco policies aimed at banning its use in certain public, private and semi-private spaces, according to a new study.
- Support for a smoking ban was at least 50% for all venues except private outdoor spaces.
- The strongest support was for spaces typically frequented by children.
- Passive smoking still kills 3,000 to 5,000 people a year in France.
In France, tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death, according to the Ministry of Health. To combat this addiction, the public authorities have implemented several measures: a ban on smoking in all public places, on the sale of tobacco to minors, 65% reimbursement by Medicare of certain nicotine substitutes to stop smoking, increase in the price of a pack of cigarettes, etc. But what does public opinion think of these tobacco control policies?
Public opinion in favor of the ban in some places…
The answer is in a study just published in the journal eClinicalMedicine Journal. Indeed, researchers have assessed public support for measures to ban smoking in certain public places, private – such as cars or the balcony of a dwelling – and semi-private such as shared gardens. For this, they made a meta-analysis of previous works carried out on this subject. A total of 107 studies from 33 countries were included for analysis: 67 assessed public support for hypothetical scenarios, 36 for policies already implemented and 4 for policies likely to be introduced or scaled up.
The researchers observed that the public supported measures aimed at banning smoking in private indoor spaces (73%), in semi-private indoor spaces (70%) and in certain outdoor spaces such as schoolyards, playgrounds, parks and beaches (69%). In general, public opinion was more supportive of smoke-free policies in spaces commonly frequented by children.
…but not in private outdoor spaces
On the other hand, for other outdoor locations, this support dropped sharply. For those that receive the public, such as cafe and restaurant terraces, it was only 50%. For private outdoor spaces, such as private balconies, it was 41%.
The scientists also observed that adherence to anti-smoking policies was higher among non-smokers and ex-smokers than among smokers. Women, smokers or not, were generally more in favor of these measures than men. Moreover, there was no difference according to the income of the countries: low, medium or high.
The authors therefore urge policy makers to take more action to protect the public. In France, another million people are exposed to passive smoking and it causes 3,000 to 5,000 deaths per year, according to the Ministry of Health.
