PARIS — France will ban electronic cigarette smoking in public places by imposing the same curbs enforced since 2007 to combat tobacco smoking, Health Minister Marisol Touraine said on Friday.
The so-called e-cigarettes will face a ban on smoking in public spaces and sales to minors and a blackout on media advertising.
The near-odorless electronic battery-driven e-cigarettes are gaining ground in no-go zones such as bars, cafes, trains, waiting rooms and offices.
A government-commissioned report said this week that around 500,000 people in France are now smoking e-cigarettes, which look like cigarettes although some come in different colors.
Health officials in many countries believe that the electronic alternative will increase the general temptation to smoke. Former smokers may start smoking again and smokers may use them alongside regular cigarettes.
In the United States, the number of smokers who have tried out e-cigarettes doubled to one in five in 2011 and the number of all adults trying it doubled too, to 6 percent, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The expert in charge of the French report advised against an outright ban on e-cigarettes, however, saying they still seemed safer than tobacco.
