EU citizens divided over smoking ban in bars-poll

Most people in the European Union support a ban on smoking in offices, shops and some other public places but are divided on whether to prohibit tobacco in restaurants and bars, an EU survey showed on Tuesday.

The Eurobarometer poll of 25,000 people in the 25 EU countries said four out of five supported a ban on smoking in their workplaces, in shops and other indoor and outdoor spaces.

That compared to 56 percent who supported outlawing smoking in restaurants, and 40 percent who were in favour of banning it from bars.

Responses differed largely from country to country, with only 35 percent of respondents in the Czech Republic supporting a ban in bars but 88 percent in favour in Italy.

Ireland imposed the world's first nationwide smoking ban in public places in 2004. Sweden bans smoking in restaurants, while Italy and Scotland have outlawed smoking in enclosed public spaces. Many parts of the United States have similar bans.

The poll, taken last autumn and published on the eve of the World Health Organisation's "World No Tobacco Day," showed that the percentage of people who smoked in the EU had dropped to 33 percent, seven percentage points fewer than said so in the last report in 2002, when the bloc had 15 members.

The number of citizens declaring they had never smoked increased by almost five points to 47 percent, and the percentage of those who had smoked but claimed to have given up also increased, by three points to 22 percent.

Seventy-five percent of those polled thought that second-hand smoking posed a health risk - 39 percent said it could cause cancer and 33 percent believed it could lead to respiratory problems.

Among people aged 15 to 24, 53 percent were worried about second-hand smoking.

Three-quarters of respondents were aware that tobacco smoke could represent a health risk for non-smokers, with 95 percent acknowledging that smoking in the company of a pregnant woman could be very dangerous for the baby.

More than 75 percent of smokers said they would not smoke in the vicinity of a child.

The World Health Organization predicts the number of people dying each year from cancer, cardiovascular disease or other conditions linked to smoking could exceed 10 million by 2020, with 70 percent of victims in developing countries.