(SOUNDBITE OF TAKUYA KURODA'S "RISING SON")

AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:

Smoking in France is about to get a kick in the butt, and by that, we mean the cigarette butt. One month from today, smoking will be banned from outdoor public spaces where children might gather. This will include outside of schools, in parks and gardens, and more. Tobacco must disappear where there are children, Health Minister Catherine Vautrin told French Media. The freedom to smoke, she said, stops where children's right to breathe clean air starts.

France has had a long cultural relationship with smoking, especially in fashion and cinema. And according to France's League Against Cancer, more than 90% of French films from 2015 to 2019 included smoking scenes. Ooh, la, la. But despite its near ubiquity on screen, the smoking rate in France has actually been falling, and most French surveyed support the ban. It's likely that the street cleaners will, too, because each year roughly 2 billion cigarette butts are tossed onto Paris roads.

(SOUNDBITE OF TAKUYA KURODA'S "RISING SON") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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