Bookmarkers beware: Bookmarks to pages other than the home page may not work after we change our server in April Editor's Choice | This Week in BMJ | Press releases BMJ No 7130 Volume 316 News Saturday 14 February 1998 Germany rejects ban on smoking in public The German parliament has rejected a bill proposing to ban smoking in public buildings, workplaces, and public transport, after an emotional debate last week. The controversial bill, brought before parliament by a 150-strong cross party group of MPs, was rejected in a free vote by 336 to 256. Dr Karsten Vilmar, president of the German Doctors' Chamber, said that this showed that some members of parliament had got their priorities wrong. Legislation is the only way to protect non-smokers in the workplace, he argued, saying, "It's a shame that there is no majority for common sense." But although the doctors' chamber strongly supported the bill, another doctors' organisation, the Hartmannbund, which represents GPs and other self employed doctors, opposed it. Health minister Dr Horst Seehofer also opposed the introduction of the antismoking bill, arguing that protection for non-smokers should not take place "in the shape of a new bureaucratic diktat created by the legislature." Instead, the emphasis should be on prevention and attempts to reduce the number of smokers, argued Dr Seehofer. But according to the German Lung Foundation, only one German smoker in five succeeds in giving up, and Germany has one of the highest smoking rates in Europe, with over 40% of the workforce smoking. Germany is 16th in the World Health Organisation's league tables of cigarette consumption per head. Sandra Goldbeck-Wood BMJ Home | Current issue | Past issues | Classified ads | Career Focus | Feedback Collections | About this site | About the BMJ | BMA | Medline