The “tobacco-free spaces” system is a national measure, launched in 2020, before the Covid-19 epidemic. In Côte-d’Or, the first agreements between the municipalities and the League against cancer were signed in May 2022. Since then, ten municipalities have installed one or more tobacco-free spaces. These are areas delimited by signs and markings on the ground to deter smokers. The city of Genlis is the last to have entered into this partnership, in particular it plans to install them in front of school spaces.
More and more municipalities
A dozen municipalities have already installed these tobacco-free spaces, a satisfactory result for Claude Laborier, president of the League against cancer of Côte-d’Or: “At the national level we are quite well placed, we have contacts with around thirty municipalities”.
For each municipality, there must be several spaces, Talant has four, for example. The number of zones and their location depends on the investment of the town hall in the process. According to Claude Laborier, the Côte-d’Or mayors are quite aware: “the system is slightly self-sustaining, we are often called upon”.
Does it works?
Most municipalities have set up these spaces around schools and around places frequented by children. The objective, according to Claude Laborier, is to “motivate parents through children”. In addition to these spaces, the risks of tobacco are also mentioned by teachers, for example at the Fontaine aux Jardins school in Quétigny. Christophe’s daughter is a student there: “I find it good, personally I no longer smoke in front of school, I wait until the evening to do it in a private setting”.
The success is more mixed on the Lac Kir beach in Dijon. However, the space has been installed for a year, but the single panel is not very visible. Valentin comes regularly, but he had never noticed: “there aren’t really any signs indicating the difference, it’s a shame”.
Of course, these prevention spaces are not sufficient to restrict tobacco consumption, recalls Claude Laborier, they complement other actions.
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