Small bar owners win court cases against government to allow for public smoking again as an alarmed health ministry appeals.
Jump to full article: Christian Science Monitor, 2009-08-05
Author: Joel Weickgenant * Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor
Intro: Smokers have found some friendly legislative ground in the Netherlands.
A series of district court decisions, one most recently handed down in July, has partially rolled back a 2008 smoking ban, allowing customers in thousands of small bars to once again light up at their barstools.
Removing ashtrays from bar counters has become standard practice in the West in recent years, as governments from both sides of the Atlantic seek to shield citizens from the health hazards of smoke.
The decisions were made in favor of a beloved Dutch institution, the "bruin cafe," or brown bar.
Dutch cities are dotted with these hole-in-the-wall bars, often run by an individual or small group of owners who have no need to hire employees. They are engines of local gossip and connection. Popular lore has it that the "brown bar" moniker was earned due to walls stained by layers of tobacco smoke.
The legal reasoning behind lifting the ban was that, since these bars don't have employees, no one is being involuntarily put at risk by exposure to smoke.
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