Europeans smoke way too much!!

[haranguerer]

Interesting the large difference in smoking between Spain and Portugal. I was in Portugal recently and smoking wasn't a problem, which wasn't the case when I first went there.

Portugal has the highest proportion of people who have never smoked, which suggests an unusually intelligent nation.

[thewobbler]

In donegal last weekend I noticed the health and safety warnings on cigarette packets were in irish. Meaning that the overwhelming majority of people in ireland won't be able to pick out enough words to understand what it says.

Madness. Pure looney left madness.

But then again, I suppose it's in the government's best interests to pull in any taxes they can these days, so they want to tone it down.

[armaghniac]

i also think that the price of tobacco products are a big influence in how many people smoke in ireland, and on the continent.
considering it would cost you at least £5 for a pack of 20 here, yet it is only about €3 in Germany for the same.

It also works the other way around. Where there are lot of tobacco drugies or the politicians smoke they don't put on many taxes or you end up with people smoking in restaurants, like in Germany.

[Niall Quinn]

Smokers: Percentage of people between the ages of 15 and 55+ who smoke cigarettes, cigars or a pipe

so 55+ is the upper age band?

[Hardy]

That chart is scary. I never knew so many people died by sex.

[Bogball XV]

My experience of restaurants in the south of Spain was pretty much that you had to ask the table next to you if they minded that you weren't going to smoke so much was the culture of smoking.  I have noticed this start to change a little with a few restaurants now not allowing smoking

I don't think any restautants allow it all anymore and until this year the law was based on sq metres, bigger bars had to provide spearate smoking and non-smoking areas and smaller ones could decide if they were smoking or non-smoking.  Around the tourist destinations it wouldn't make sense to ban smoking, but in the bigger cities there were a fair few places to suit either smokers or non smokers.

[Doogie Browser]

The tobacco companies still have massive influence on popular culture despite the ban on advertising nowadays. 
There are some great studies on their influence on the movie industry in Hollywood down the years, they spent millions of dollars just to get people smoking on sceen, this was one of their most effective forms of advertising and continues to this day on TV and films.

[DirtyDozen12]

What is the situation with the USA?  Is smoking banned in public places like restuarants bars etc there?

[haranguerer]

The tobacco companies still have massive influence on popular culture despite the ban on advertising nowadays. 
There are some great studies on their influence on the movie industry in Hollywood down the years, they spent millions of dollars just to get people smoking on sceen, this was one of their most effective forms of advertising and continues to this day on TV and films.

You mean like Dot Cotton?? People smoke, any tv programme thats attempting to represent real-life is going to reflect that people smoke, drink, and do many other things which are bad for their health.

Does anyone think smoking is glamourous? Its in very few movies now too, and is banned from public places, yet doesnt seem to be decreasing any. All this smacks of an attempt to justify behavior which is hard to explain. The problem is that preventive measure are based on this sort of reasoning. The point earlier about the message on the packs - if you've went so far as to buy the packs, you're not going to stop because theres a message saying not to. And you'll smoke all 20, becasue thats the minimum no you can buy now in the south...

I doubt governments want people to quit anyway; between fags and alcohol (and now the environment) they've always got taxes they can raise while pretending its for our own good

[Hardy]

smoking ... doesnt seem to be decreasing any.

http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/cancerstats/types/lung/smoking/#percent

[Doogie Browser]

The tobacco companies still have massive influence on popular culture despite the ban on advertising nowadays. 
There are some great studies on their influence on the movie industry in Hollywood down the years, they spent millions of dollars just to get people smoking on sceen, this was one of their most effective forms of advertising and continues to this day on TV and films.

You mean like Dot Cotton?? People smoke, any tv programme thats attempting to represent real-life is going to reflect that people smoke, drink, and do many other things which are bad for their health.

Does anyone think smoking is glamourous? Its in very few movies now too, and is banned from public places, yet doesnt seem to be decreasing any. All this smacks of an attempt to justify behavior which is hard to explain. The problem is that preventive measure are based on this sort of reasoning. The point earlier about the message on the packs - if you've went so far as to buy the packs, you're not going to stop because theres a message saying not to. And you'll smoke all 20, becasue thats the minimum no you can buy now in the south...

I doubt governments want people to quit anyway; between fags and alcohol (and now the environment) they've always got taxes they can raise while pretending its for our own good

Dot Cotton wasn't exactly what I was thinking  but I suppose it is what I meant.
I know they are meant to represent 'real life' but is there really any need to show someone smoking on telly in this day and age?  It is a fact that such product placement has an effect on people, granted stupid people but it does have an influence.