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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: 2) by theluggage on Friday February 16 2018, @01:31PM
I remember the sonic fold technology that prevented carcinogen-laden air from the smoking section mix with air from the non-smoking... oh, wait, no, that's science fiction.
I DO remember when an evening out left your clothes smelling like a bonfire for days afterwards (...and I wasn't in the habit of filtering 10 litres/minute of air through my jacket, so god know what ended up in my lungs). I guess, soon, it'll be reeking with a miasma of the top-10 vaping liquid flavours, but fortunately that doesn't mean that there are tiny particles of not-normally-inhaled substances embedded in the fabric that will also have been accumulating in my lung... oh, wait, no, yes - it does.
I remember when I had a 20-year-old cardio-vascular system that could tolerate a bit of smoky air.
Still, its good to see the nicotine junkies bravely trying to rationalise themselves the right to inflict their filthy and 100% avoidable habit on others.