Italy’s Fashion Capital Milan Bans Cigarettes: Smokers Being Fined For Lighting Up In Public Places

Milan: Italy's financial and fashion capital Milan has introduced one of the country's toughest smoking bans by announcing a ban on cigarettes. After the ban came into effect, smokers in Milan were fined a heavy amount if found lighting up a cigarette on city streets or crowded public areas. Notably, the ban on smoking came into effect from the first of January.

According to the reports, the ban has been imposed in a bid to improve air quality and protect citizens' health. As of January 1, smokers in the fashion and financial capital face fines of between 40 and 240 euros ($41 to $249) for lighting up in public places.

As per the reports, the ban is part of Milan's air quality ordinance, which aims to reduce airborne particulates and protect citizens from passive smoking. The Milan officials believe that the step to ban smoking will definitely improve the city's air quality, making it a healthier place to live.

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However, not everyone is pleased with the new ban. Some residents think that the measure is excessive. "I don't see why one should be restricted" from smoking in open spaces, one of the residents quoted by a foreign media as saying.

However, there is a population, who welcome the ban, saying, "We hope smokers can also understand the need of nonsmokers who want to breathe cleaner air."

Milan's air quality ordinance, passed in 2020 by the city council, called for progressively stricter bans on smoking. Starting in 2021, it was forbidden to smoke in parks and playgrounds, as well as bus stops and sports facilities.

The latest smoking ban, effective January 1, applies to "all public spaces, including streets", with the exception of "isolated places where it is possible to maintain a distance of at least 10 metres from other people", according to the text.

Local officials say the measure is aimed at reducing airborne particulates to "improve the quality of the city's air, to protect the health of citizens, including protection from passive smoking in public places, also frequented by children", according to a statement.

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The ban is expected to impact local businesses, particularly tobacco shops. Emanuele Marinoni, vice president of the Italian Tobacconists Federation, predicts a 20 to 30 per cent drop in sales.

Milan's smoking ban comes ahead of the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics and is part of the city's efforts to reduce pollution and improve air quality.

Italy's health ministry says that 93,000 deaths per year are attributed to smoking. Not only this, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), smoking is responsible for roughly 85 per cent of all cases of lung cancer, the deadliest cancer worldwide.

Within the European Union, 17 countries have passed smoke-free legislation, with Ireland, Greece, Bulgaria, Malta, Spain and Hungary the strictest.

In November, a world-leading proposal in Britain to phase out smoking by young people passed its first parliamentary hurdle, with lawmakers overwhelmingly voting in favour. The bill would prevent anyone born after January 1, 2009, from legally smoking by gradually raising the age at which tobacco can be bought.

In Europe, the fewest smokers are found in Sweden, where eight per cent of the population lights up and the worst off in Bulgaria, with smokers making up 37 per cent.