JAKARTA - Italy's Health Minister's proposal to expand smoking bans including in outdoor areas of bars and parks, according to details reported by local media, drew anger from far-right cabinet colleagues who branded it "communist".
Minister Orazio Schillaci, a technocrat who has no affiliation with the party, said in January that he would take firm action against smoking habits, including e-cigarettes, which are widely used by teenagers.
This new regulation will cover areas outside the bar and at the termination of public transportation, La Stampa newspaper reported on Monday. The ban will also be extended to parks if there are pregnant women and children, he said.
Minister of Culture Junior Vittrio Sgarbi, who is known to like to express his opinion in a flamboyant style, called Schillaci's view "intimidating" and said such a ban would actually encourage people to smoke.
"This is something typical of the authoritarian and dictatorial communist regime," Sgarbi told news agency AdnKronos.
Italy's main health institute (ISS) said about 24 percent of Italian adults were smokers last year, about 12.4 million people and the highest percentage recorded since 2009.
It is known that the Italian government issued a smoking ban indoors in 2003, which took effect two years later.
The health association Bundazione Umberto Veronesi estimates that at least 43,000 people die in Italy every year due to the causes associated with cigarettes.
However, the proposed ban also faces skepticism from Deputy Prime Minister and Liga leader Matteo Salvini, who quit smoking four years ago, but said the ban on e-cigarettes in the open was "exaggerated."
"Electronic cigarettes help many people to leave ordinary cigarettes," he wrote on Twitter.
The Italian Ministry of Health did not return a request for comment on this matter
It is known that the proposal for the ban must be approved by the cabinet before being submitted to parliament.
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