Germans Trying to Talk Tough on Smoking

A night on the town in Germany typically means the next day is spent at the Laundromat.

The fog of cigarette and cigar smoke in restaurants and bars may be disappearing in European countries like Ireland, Norway and, as of Jan. 10, Italy. But Germany continues to be among the more smoker-friendly countries on the continent, with restaurants slow to introduce non-smoking zones and bar visitors regularly greeted with great clouds of nicotine and carbon-dioxide upon opening the front door.

"The fact that Germany is not on the vanguard as far as protecting smokers is obvious," said Marlies Volkmer, a member of the German parliament's health committee.

Bigger non-smoking zones in restaurants

Together with her colleagues, Volkmer wants the government to take a harder line on public buildings and restaurants that still do not separate smoking and non-smoking areas.

Germany's chief gastronomic association is currently negotiating a deal with the health ministry that would call for 40 percent of a restaurant's dining space to be devoted to non-smokers. Volkmer says that's far too little.

"We have the duty to protect non-smokers and restaurant visitors," she recently told Der Spiegel magazine.

There is nothing to indicate that Germany will go as far as Italy and Ireland. Indeed, though non-smoking protection is often a topic of debate within the country, Germany has moved ploddingly towards any real reform.

Despite tax hikes on cigarette packs in the past three years and a vocal commitment to change, the European Network of Smoking and Prevention gave the country bad grades when it came to anti-smoking policies. The report, released last Fall, ranked Germany in the bottom ten in Europe, out of 28 countries.

In addition to allowing smoking in restaurants and bars, Germany permits smoking in public institutions.

"That is really overdue," said Gerlinde Kaupa, parliamentarian health expert of the Christian Democratic Union. "In public buildings, to which people can't avoid going, there is a duty to negotiate a deal."

Playing the job card

All the saber rattling on the parliamentary level regarding restaurants has been met with frustration by Germany's hotel and restaurant association. Director Ingrid Hartges says that bars and restaurants have already been dealing with declining sales over the past few years.

A ban "would be the final blow for many restaurants and bars," she said in an interview.

It is one of the most common arguments given by anti-ban advocates, and one that resonates in a country of slow economic growth rates where 10 percent of the population is unemployed. In addition, Hartges says that smoking bans work best when they aren't forced upon the industry. In train stations, airports and other transit areas, for example, visitors have readily agreed to smoking areas.

"This was reached without any sort of law," she said. "There is already a lot being done."

Ban "not ruled out"

Surveys in Ireland and New York, which have introduced smoking bans, tend to dispute the money-loss arguments put forward by restaurant owners.

Irish researchers found that while the number of non-smokers visiting bars and restaurants since the ban has slightly increased, the number of smokers at the pubs has remained relatively unchanged. In addition, the Restaurant Association of Ireland, one of the ban's opponents, has come around to it and said recently that business has been virtually the same.

"They had been predicting thousands of jobs lost, and that it would be so detrimental to the economy," said Valerie Coughlan, of the anti-smoking organization ASH Ireland in an interview. "But none of the predictions came true."

Germany wants to start small, with the division of smoking and non-smoking areas in restaurants. But Kaupa said she is not against outright bans in the near future.

"I see this as a first step," she said of the agreement, which is expected to be reached in early March. "But if these steps don't lead to success, then a ban shouldn't be ruled out."