Paris Has 1st Outdoor Public Smoking Ban

France has its first official ban on smoking in outdoor public places. Paris instituted a one-year trial ban on smoking in the playgrounds of the Parc de Montsouris over the weekend. The ban was introduced as part of a larger French campaign to reduce the country's high death toll from smoking. Tobacco-related illnesses are a leading cause of death in France, claiming 73,000 lives a year. After a year, Paris officials “will determine whether the measure should be made permanent and extended to other Paris parks,” said deputy mayor Pénélope Komitè. Some Frenchmen are, unsurprisingly, resistant to the trial ban. “It's excessive,” said Jacques, 40, who was interviewed while violating the playground smoking ban. “There’s no risk to kids’ health out here in the open air.”