They DID it...! Buenos Aires bans public smoking...

Banderas de Argentina y Ciudad de Buenos Aires

all the more surprising considering just how many argentines smoke (including a number of the legislators who voted on the bill)...

The new bill bans smoking in all public spaces (including shopping centres) and in all bars, cafés and restaurants of less than 100 square metres while placing a 30 percent ceiling on the smoking area in premises exceeding that size (a previous ordinance had permitted smoking areas in all bars etc. over 40 square metres). Individuals infringing these new regulations are to be fined 25-500 pesos and businesses 500-2,000 pesos. Cigarettes may not be sold to those aged below 18, not 16 as before.

[...]

So overwhelming is the case against smoking that it evidently convinced at least some smokers last Thursday because the bill received 49 votes in a 60-seat Legislature where at least 24 members are known smokers.

so, in a country where even enforcement of traffic regulations is virtually non-existent, like everything else, ya gotta place this in context... the editorial's closing comment...

[J]ust how compulsory are seat belts nowadays?

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