France may no longer be 'the chimney of Europe', but years of falling smoking rates have been halted by the pandemic and lockdowns, causing concern to public health experts.
A new report in France looks at how the younger generation are smoking and drinking compared to their parents and there was some good news that means the national stereotypes about the French may no longer apply.
Smokers in Paris are facing further restrictions on lighting up, as 10 percent of the city's green spaces are set to go smoke free, and there are also bans on several of the country's beaches coming in to force in June.
Paris is set to ban smoking in the city's parks and gardens this summer in an attempt to stub out the unhealthy habit among Parisians and cut down on cigarette butts in green spaces.
One million French smokers who previously sparked up everyday have given up smoking in the last 12 months, the country's Ministry of Health revealed on Monday, suggesting France's reputation as Europe's chimney might no longer be appropriate.
Four tobacco companies in France have been accused of "deliberately endangering people's lives" by cheating tests in order to hide the real levels of nicotine and tar in their cigarettes, in a case that echos the "Dieselgate" scandal that engulfed Volkswagen.
Tobacconists in France are fighting back against the government's plan to hike the price of cigarettes to €10 saying that they will suffer and the measures won't even reduce smoking.
The French government wants to raise the price of a pack of cigarettes to €10, but will the price rise really help the nation ditch a habit that kills 80,000 each year?
France will have to cough up €100 million to pay tobacconists for all the unsold branded cigarette packets after the new law about plain packaging came into play.
The classic French hobby of smoking cigarettes on the café terrace could become a thing of the past after France's Health Ministry launched a new scheme to cut down on al fresco smoking.
France on Tuesday launched a national 'Tobacco-free month' campaign to encourage smokers to quit the habit, offering financial incentives as well as advice for would-be quitters.
France's biggest insurance group AXA said Monday it was pulling out of the tobacco industry, divesting about €1.8 billion ($2.0 billion) of assets in the sector as part of the fight against smoking.
From Friday, all cigarette manufacturers in France will be obligated to create 'neutral' packaging for cigarettes as a controversial bill finally comes into force.
Researchers are planning to carry out a study to determine whether French woman would continue to smoke while pregnant if they were offered a financial incentive to stop.
A French court ruled on Thursday that a high school outside Paris was not allowed to create a smoking zone on its premises, a measure taken by many schools after the jihadist attack on the capital in November.
A French health expert has launched legal proceedings against a school for allowing children to smoke on school grounds, on the premise it is safer than outside the gates because of the terror threat.
France published Tuesday a decree setting a January 1 deadline for cigarette manufacturers to introduce plain packages, but Japan Tobacco International immediately said it would challenge the
measure.
