http://www.tobacco.org/newsfeed/country/france.rss Latest top tobacco news headlines en-us http://www.pr-inside.com/tobacco-in-france-new-research-r662793.htm http://tobacco.org/news/267585.html Tobacco in France industry profile is an essential resource for top-level data and analysis covering the tobacco industry. It includes detailed data on market size and segmentation, plus textual and graphical analysis of the key trends and competitive landscape, leading companies and demographic information. PR Insider France Tue, 24 Jun 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4159769.ece http://tobacco.org/news/267166.html Smokers in France are uniting to beat a ban on lighting up in public by organising open-house parties where they can puff on their Gauloises until the early hours. The parties, held in flats and houses but also in clandestine clubs, often draw dozens of people for a drink, a chat, a dance and a cigarette. Some are paying, others are free, but all welcome the smokers who are deserting bars, bistrots and night clubs. The movement has flourished since the introduction of a smoking ban . . . One such network was created on Facebook by a 30-year-old Gauloises-smoking DJ who gives his name only as Shandor. . . . The group — Pour le Grand Retour de la Fête en Appart' en 2008 (“For the Great Comeback of Parties in Flats in 2008”) — originally included a few dozen people. Now it has 1,182 members. “It's taken off so much that we've had to create a second, secret group,” said Shandor. Times Of London France Wed, 18 Jun 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=616344 http://tobacco.org/news/266696.html Middle-aged smokers are more prone to memory problems than their non-smoking peers, a new French study suggests. While smoking is a recognized health hazard, there has been some debate on its effect on dementia, the study authors said. "Dementia is rare among middle-aged people, but cognitive function at this age in closely related to dementia," said lead researcher Severine Sabia, of the Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale in Villejuif, France. "Our results show that smoking is associated with poorer cognition and decline over five years. "Another interesting finding," Sabia added, "was that ex-smokers improved their other health behaviors, and among them there was little residual adverse effect of smoking on cognition." HealthDay [HealthScout] editors@healthday.com (Steven Reinberg HealthDay Reporter) France Mon, 09 Jun 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_9366263 http://tobacco.org/news/265951.html What do actor Sean Penn and Valley-area conservative political activist Mike Spence have in common? Penn and Spence, a West Covina school board member and president of the California Republican Assembly, support cigarette smokers' freedom, Meredith Turney recently stated in a blog on the FlashReport Web site, www.flashreport.org. . . . "Anyone who knows Mike Spence is aware that he firmly believes in the rights of smokers to fill a room with the 'smell of freedom,' " she stated. But don't plan on an alliance between the two, Turney stated. "Penn opposes smoking bans for his own selfish interest while advocating government control in areas that don't affect his life (a true elitist). Spence advocates for personal freedom for all, regardless of whether he personally engages in producing second-hand smoke (which he doesn't)," she stated. "Politics truly does make strange bedfellows." Spence said he has said when someone lights up a cigarette, it has the smell of freedom. Pasadena Star-News France Sat, 24 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080525/ennew_afp/entertainmentfilmfestivalcannespenn_080525200249 http://tobacco.org/news/265950.html Disregarding France's tough new anti-smoking laws yet again, Sean Penn lit up Sunday as his nine-person Palme d'Or jury met the press following Cannes' closing red-carpet awards ceremony. Penn, along with French actress Jeanne Balibar and Iranian comic-book author and director Marjane Satrapi, happily puffed away as they took questions about their 12-day work watching the 22 films in competition for the prize. The scene seemed a replay of the jury's opening conference, when Penn led a minor revolt at the festival against the draconian anti-smoking laws brought in this year. Agence France Presse France Sun, 25 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://winnipegsun.com/Entertainment/Movies/2008/05/15/5572846-sun.html http://tobacco.org/news/265302.html The curse of tobacco has followed Sean Penn to the Cannes Film Festival. In a light-hearted moment yesterday in an otherwise serious press conference, Penn snuck a few puffs and groused about the problem. "I've been discouraged from smoking," Penn said in complaining about the down side of being jury president. . . . "For some medical reason, we need to smoke," filmmaker Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis) said with a mischievous grin . . . "Would it bother you?" A few journalists applauded. She then lit up with a flourish, as did Penn and French actress Jeanne Balibar. Winnipeg Sun letters@wpgsun.com (BRUCE KIRKLAND) France Thu, 15 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/425430 http://tobacco.org/news/265301.html A remarkable combination of arrogance and charm, Penn allowed that he'd been "discouraged" from smoking during the news conference, a request he hasn't always complied with when visiting the Toronto International Film Festival. But he lit a ciggie near the end after Satrapi asked the journalists if it would okay "for medical reasons" for the jurors to smoke. She puffed along with Penn, and so did Balibar. Toronto Star petehowell@gmail.com France Thu, 15 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.nationalpost.com/arts/story.html?id=515211 http://tobacco.org/news/265300.html At this point the press conference suddenly became a smoking event when - wait for it! - jury member and Persepolis director Marjane Satrapi lit up a cigarette. Penn and French actress Jeanne Balibar quickly followed suit. Surely a nicotine craving is just as big an impediment to enjoying Kung Fu Panda as a full bladder. National Post France Tue, 13 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/cannes%20film%20festival%20jury%20smoke%20up%20a%20storm%20of%20controversy_1068646 http://tobacco.org/news/265299.html Iranian director Marjane Satrapi and French actress Jeanne Balibar lit up as they were being introduced to the media, despite protests about smoking in public. And the 2008 jury president, Sean Penn, who had previously been told he couldn't smoke during the press conference, then chose to ignore the rules and lit a cigarette. Under protest, Satrapi insisted, "Some members of this jury, for medical reasons, need to smoke. Do you mind?" ContactMusic.com France Wed, 14 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080514/en_afp/entertainmentfilmfestivalcannespenn_080514195919 http://tobacco.org/news/265296.html US actor and director Sean Penn lit up and led a minor revolt at the Cannes film festival against France's draconian new anti-smoking laws. Penn, the head of the jury that will pick the best films, pulled out a cigarette and puffed on it at a press conference with fellow jury members, in defiance of laws in place since January that ban smoking in public enclosed spaces. He only took a couple of drags before putting it aside and getting back to answering reporters' questions. But jury member Marjane Satrapi, an Iranian director clearly inspired by her colleague's defiance, then asked to much laughter if anyone minded if she smoked "for medical reasons." Agence France Presse France Wed, 14 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/15/arts/15arts-SEANPENNSFIE_BRF.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=smoking&st=nyt&oref=slogin http://tobacco.org/news/265294.html Defying France's strict new antismoking laws, Sean Penn, right, president of the jury at the 61st Cannes Film Festival, lighted a cigarette at a news conference yesterday, Agence France-Presse reported. After a couple of puffs in defiance of rules that banned smoking in enclosed spaces since January, he put the cigarette aside and returned to answering reporters' questions. But a jury member, the Iranian writer and director Marjane Satrapi, prompting laughter, then asked if anyone minded if she smoked "for medical reasons." She lighted a cigarette; Mr. Penn and the French actress Jeanne Balibar joined her. New York Times France Thu, 15 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2008/05/07/afx4980804.html http://tobacco.org/news/264886.html Deliveries of tobacco products to French tobacconists fell 10.2 percent in April from the year-earlier period, the Federation of tobacco industries said AFX News matt.gil@thomsonreuters.com France Wed, 07 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/24/europe/hookah.php http://tobacco.org/news/264044.html there remains an unexpected pocket of resistance: hookah bars. The owner of one Paris hookah café says he has been on a hunger strike for two months to protest the ban on indoor smoking, which took effect Jan. 2. Other owners of "shisha bars," as the salons are known here, have simply chosen to break the law by continuing to offer customers tobacco in water pipes. "We have no choice," said Badri Helou, president of the Hookah Professionals' Union. "If we don't offer what our customers used to come for, our companies will go bankrupt." Hookah bars, which began springing up in France more than a decade ago, became increasingly popular across Europe, both among immigrants from Islamic countries and among the hip student crowd. Helou's union estimates that France had 800 hookah bars before the smoking ban, half of them in Paris or its suburbs, but that perhaps one-third have closed since the ban took effect. International Herald Tribune letters@iht.com (Felix Briaud) France Thu, 24 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://news.morningstar.com/newsnet/ViewNews.aspx?article=/DJ/200804221205DOWJONESDJONLINE000624_univ.xml http://tobacco.org/news/263922.html British American Tobacco PLC (BTI) Tuesday said a French legal move to stop the import into France of Lucky Strike cigarettes bearing unlawful advertising wouldn't disrupt the supply of the brand. A French court Monday ordered a stop to the import of BAT's Lucky Strike cigarettes, due to a breach of France's code of public health. The court ruled that descriptions on Lucky Strike packs of the cigarettes' "subtle" aromas and "fresh and original" flavors were a form of tobacco advertising. It gave BAT itself and Lucky Strike's distributor in France, Altadis Distribution - now owned by Imperial Tobacco Group PLC (ITY) - 48 hours to halt the imports. Dow Jones via Nasdaq France Tue, 22 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://perezhilton.com/2008-03-24-smoking-not-sexy http://tobacco.org/news/261906.html Soon-to-retire model Kate Moss is on the cover of the new issue of French Vogue, for the second time in a handful of months. Smoking causes cancer. Why do people feel the need to glamorize it???? PerezHilton.com perez@perezhilton.com France Mon, 24 Mar 2008 04:00:00 GMT