PARIS - France's most drastic measure to curb smoking went into effect Wednesday with a full ban on lighting up in cafes, restaurants and discotheques, a change for a country where the cigarette first found its place as a potent lifestyle symbol.
A New Year's Day reprieve allowed revelers their last legal drags in public places before the new law took effect.
"You have to be vigilant. We caught one at the counter this morning,'' said Maria Boyer at a cafe near the famed Champs-Elysees that also sells cigarettes.
"I just ask people to be nice and avoid the fines,'' she said, noting that cafe owners who ignore the ban must pay up, too.
Under the measure, those caught lighting up inside face a US$93) fine, while owners who turn a blind eye to smoking in their establishments face a US$198 fine.
About a quarter of France's 60 million people smoke. The Health Ministry said one in two regular smokers dies of smoking-related illness here, and about 5,000 nonsmokers die each year from secondhand smoke.
Banning smoking everywhere but in private homes and in the streets is the latest measure in a progressive crackdown that began 15 years ago with the start of price hikes on cigarettes and a requirement that public places create nonsmoking areas -- the first curb on smoking in cafes.
Last year, a prohibition against smoking in workplaces, schools, airports, train stations, hospitals and other "closed and covered'' public places was reinforced. Restaurants and other so-called places of conviviality were given an extra 11 months to apply a full ban. Smoking is now allowed only inside special sealed chambers which are costly to install.
Over the years, the French have been weaning themselves off the habit, including by replacing the rich, dark tobacco of Gauloises or Gitanes with lighter smokes.
But the smoky cafes that captured the Paris of yesteryear, symbolizing rebellion, intellectual pursuits and "joie de vivre,'' persisted -- until Wednesday.
Between a predicted drop in sales of cigarettes and possible fines for failing to catch those who defy the ban, Boyer is worried about the health of her cafe.
"This money will be missing from the coffers at the end of the year,'' she said. "There will be people without jobs.''
