Looks like Milan left everyone behind in New Year’s resolutions this time. As the clock struck midnight and the calendar changed, the cigarette became Cinderella – smoking hot but no longer visible in public. Anyone who has ever smoked a cigarette and thought about never doing it again understands the spirit of Italy’s fashion capital.
Italy had not jumped on the healthy bandwagon in the past decade, which had seen the dramatic decline in smoking habits of young adults in the US and many other countries. According to a cross-sectional study conducted by the National Health Interview Survey between 2011 and 2022 in the US, “There has been a dramatic decline in smoking prevalence over the past decade among adults under 40, especially among those with higher incomes.” “.
Why the ban?
Milan’s reasons for imposing a strict ban on smoking in public places are rooted in the city’s effort to combat air pollution. The City Council views smoking as a significant pollutant: cigarettes are responsible for 7% of total emissions in Milan and its suburbs. Considering that almost a quarter of the Italian population smokes, this does not seem strange.
The enforceability of this ban is debatable. And there may also be compulsions behind this. Do humans always make the best decisions for themselves? Smokers are rarely unaware of the dangers they expose themselves to with each puff. But rarely is this awareness enough to quit. The gross realism of the graphics on cigarette packs is also not a hindrance. The diseases and death caused by smoking happen only to other people, not to us – such is the sense of invincibility that smokers have. Approximately 7 million people die each year globally from smoking-related health complications. But, they are different people.
As the first week of the new year ends, the evaluation of all those enthusiastically prepared resolutions also begins. In a study conducted in the US in 2015, about 68% of smokers expressed their desire to quit. Many people are successful in leaving it, some are not able to leave it. Every January, the Potential Quitters Club reconvenes and reconvenes.
When smoking was the sexiest thing
Many smokers complain that they are discriminated against and sent to secluded places. Those old enough to remember the days when you could smoke on an airplane bemoan the slow decline of human civilization. Literature and visual pop culture are filled with references to the Golden Age of Smoking. When mothers could smoke while holding their children. When nothing notable could be done without chainsmoking. Smoking was once promoted as the sexiest thing; Smoker was a rebel, a genius. The self-portraits of Van Gogh and Edvard Munch with cigarettes were great advertisements for the latter. Women who smoked were way ahead because they literally broke the rules of patriarchal propriety. Hey, even gods used to smoke. Or, we believed so and continued to do so. Depictions of smoking gods in Maya art are an example of how humans create gods in their own image, not the other way around. The Maya people are believed to be heavy smokers.
The headlines surrounding Milan’s smoking ban have highlighted the paradoxical relationship between smoking and style. According to WHO data on smoking, 80% of global smokers are from low- and middle-income countries. According to the survey, the prevalence of smoking is said to be highest in the lowest income group. Therefore, the traditional association of smoking with making a style statement in the world of the rich has been a bit strange.
Is the ban on matching ultimately a claim of the elite? A signal is being sent by making the city’s fashionable streets smoke free. It’s too much to end; Now we want to get healthy and live in our own lane. Slowly killing yourself is no longer stylish.
Whether banning something stops its spread is another debate. What they achieve is the destruction of agency. And it appears that Milan’s city council is doing the same. Just because you think you should light one and expose everyone around you to secondhand smoke is no longer a good reason. This is no longer your choice. Whether this should ever have been an option is also a relevant question.
So, how is your New Year’s resolution to quit smoking going?
(Nishtha Gautam is a Delhi-based writer and academic.)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
