Brazil enforces smoking ban in São Paulo

A smoking ban comes into force in the Brazilian state of São Paulo on Friday, adding to what has become one of the world’s toughest anti-smoking campaigns.

Brazil was among the first countries in the world to print disturbing images on cigarette packs in an effort to persuade smokers not to light up. The images, in use since 2001, have coincided with a steady fall in the number of smokers in the country, from 34 per cent of the adult population in 1989 to 15 per cent last year, although the part played by the images is hard to gauge.

Smoking bans have been tried in São Paulo city in the past but they were half-hearted affairs that expired under legal challenges and public indifference. This time, the state government says 90 per cent of the population supports the ban, which will outlaw smoking in all public or private spaces “of collective use”, such as bars, restaurants, shops, offices and shared areas in apartment buildings.

It will be enforced by fines on establishments of about R$800 to R$1,600 for first offences, rising thereafter. But the state says it will rely as much on support as enforcement. About 80 per cent of bars and restaurants have already implemented the ban, the state said, which is supported by a majority of smokers as well as non-smokers.

In spite of what appears to be the success of Brazil’s on-pack campaign, doubts remain about its effectiveness and new images introduced in May are especially disturbing. Only three – the least disturbing of a new set of 10 – are in widespread use, although from this week all 10 will be in circulation.

Initial research suggests the new images are having an impact. In a poll carried out in three big Brazilian cities by the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project, an organisation of tobacco control researchers, 62 per cent of smokers said the warnings made them think about the dangers of smoking, 48 per cent said they made them more likely to quit, and 39 per cent said they had decided not to light up after looking at the images during the previous 30 days.

But the ITC also warned that smokers habitually avoided looking at the images – printed only on the back of packs – by leaving their packs face up, and called for them to be printed both front and back.