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from the all-those-in-favour,-please-cough dept.
Austria has one of the highest rates of smoking and youth smoking among high income countries, and that might not be changing anytime soon:
Many Western countries have banned smoking in bars and restaurants, but Austria is bucking that trend. Under a law passed in 2015, Austria was due to bring in a total ban this May, but now its new government of the conservatives and the far-right Freedom Party have scrapped the plans.
The move was spearheaded by the leader of the Freedom Party, Austria's Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, himself a smoker, who told parliament last month that it was about freedom of choice. He said restaurants should be free to decide if they want to have smoking sections, where "a citizen has the possibility to decide perhaps to enjoy a cigarette or a pipe or a cigar with their coffee".
The move has horrified Austria's medical establishment. Dr Manfred Neuberger, professor emeritus at the Medical University of Vienna, says it is "a public health disaster".
"The decision is irresponsible. It was a victory for the tobacco industry. The new government made Austria into the ashtray of Europe."
Meanwhile, the country is considering buying more jet fighters, recruiting more police, defunding its public broadcaster, and examining its past.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by stretch611 on Friday February 16 2018, @07:49AM
In addition to the other comments about how you only affect yourself with your choice of meals and drinks instead of the people around you that inhale your smoke, there is one other important difference.
While the excess of carbs can cause diabetes, a lack of carbs will cause you to die. There is a reason why diabetics take insulin... so that they can process enough carbs to survive.
And while fats are not needed as much as sugars are, proper diets do include them.
It is one thing to create a sin tax on items not needed at all for the human body such as cigarettes, it is something else entirely to tax something that is a requirement for human survival such as basic foods. While foods can get sales taxes in the US, many jurisdictions reduce or eliminate sales taxes on food items.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P