Mexico City - Considers Smoking Ban (LA Times)

Mexican capital considers smoking ban

By Sam Enriquez and Cecilia Sanchez,
Times Staff Writers7:46 PM PDT, June 28, 2007

MEXICO CITY -- Sure, the dateline says Mexico City, but this place is turning more San Francisco every day.

City lawmakers this year have legalized abortion and same-sex civil unions.

Next up? A ban on smoking in restaurants, schools, taxis and buses. The city assembly's health committee this week unanimously supported new smoking restrictions, following the lead of most U.S. cities, and joining a parade of formerly puff-happy countries including England and France. The Mexico City ban comes up for a vote before the full assembly in the fall. And unlike the partisan fight over abortion, this one looks like a slam dunk.

"When change is needed, we do it," said Marco Antonio Garcia Ayala, head of the assembly's health committee.

"To us there is nothing more important than fighting nicotine addiction and the diseases that it brings." Credit or blame goes to city administrations from the left-leaning Democratic Revolution Party, known as the PRD, which is steering the capital against the conservative tide of Mexico's Roman Catholic culture. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, leader of the PRD and mayor until his losing bid for president last year, initiated welfare for seniors, disabled persons and single mothers. His successor, Mayor Marcelo Ebrard, has gone even further with the legalization of abortion and civil unions. On the legislative drawing boards is a bill to allow euthanasia.

King Nicotine, however, played a key role in the smoking-ban proposal. The Mexico City department of health reports that about a fifth of the capital's 9 million residents are daily smokers, with 150 of them dying from lung cancer every day. An unknown number of people suffer from the effects of second-hand smoke.

"We have to work out a bold way of protecting the health of residents," said Laura Pina Olmedo, a member of the health commission.

"We need to create spaces that are 100 percent free of smoke." A smoking ban in Mexico City would have been unheard of even a few years ago.

The world's second richest man, Carlos Slim, is a Mexican who kick-started his $50 billion dollar empire with a Marlboro franchise; kids barely counter-high buy smokes; and a cigarette with a post-meal coffee is customary. Singles sell for 2 pesos at corner newsstands. Even doctors smoke.

"It'd be a shame. After a good meal there's nothing like a cigarette," said Alfredo Cardenas, 33, an architect who sounded like the voice-over from a 1950s cigarette commercial.

"I'll never quit smoking."

A 2000 ban on smoking in federal buildings, including the Mexican Congress, led to lawsuits by angry lawmakers. Smoking has been banned at hospitals and airports for at least 15 years, but restaurants and bars remain smokers' sanctuaries. Restaurants here were forced in 2003 to set aside non-smoking areas, but the regulation had little practical impact. Public health was a small concern among restaurants owners in the tony Polanco district who said Thursday they're worried the smoking ban would depress sales.

"It seems to me they're doing this without thinking," said Genaro Ortiz Lucas, manager of "Mi Viejo" restaurant. "The only thing they'll win out of this is closing restaurants. Half my clients smoke, and if I have to tell them they can't, we run the risk of chasing them away."

But restaurants and other businesses will have a strong incentive to comply. Under the proposed law, restaurants could face fines has high as $2,200 if they allow smoking. Taxi and bus drivers could be fined $150.Scofflaw smokers won't face any fines in the proposed legislation."This is not a law to prohibit people from smoking," said Garcia Ayala. "It's a law to protect people who don't."

Carlos Martinez of the Times' Mexico City bureau contributed to this report.