BERLIN (Reuters Health) - The German government is gearing up to increase tobacco taxes and establish more non-smoking areas in one of the few remaining northern European countries where smoking is often still seen as the norm.

This has to be reversed, according to Marion Caspers-Merk, the government's "drug czar," who appealed to the consciences of smokers to accept the changes. She told the newsmagazine "Focus" on Monday, "It was in our government's manifesto that we will start a big anti-tobacco campaign. We want to create a climate in which non-smoking is the norm, and therefore more strongly limit smoking in public places and at the workplace. Two thirds of the population are non-smokers." The government's youth protection law, which comes into power in April 2003, is aimed, among other things, at preventing children under the age of 16 from buying cigarettes. Caspers-Merk said she set high hopes on parents helping the government to uphold the law. "It will work if parents take a look and take part too," she said. "I know schools that make efforts to ban teachers from smoking, and then hear from parents that their children are allowed to smoke at home. That cannot be permitted." She admitted to having been an under-age smoker herself, starting at just 13. "I stopped when I was 22 and am very pleased about it," she said. The Norwegian government broke new ground last month when it presented a bill to ban smoking in all restaurants and bars across the country from 2004. Some local governments in the US and Canada have banned smoking in public places but Norway would be the first country to clear smoking from all restaurants and bars. German smokers are more free to smoke where they want than their counterparts in many other European countries, but this could soon change, Caspers-Merk said. She told Focus that smokers would "of course" not be restricted to certain rooms but added, "In areas which are heavily used by the public, health protection must take priority. We are doing this for smokers rather than against them. Forty percent want to give up--and we want to support this secret wish a bit with these measures." She also portrayed the price increase due on January 1, 2003 as helpful for smokers. "We know that every rise in price gives many smokers an opportunity to finally give up. On the other hand though, the British have terrible problems with cigarette smuggling, because they are extremely expensive there. I am therefore in favor of a mixed policy of regulation, encouragement, campaigns and price rises. "The fact is that our cigarette prices are on the lower scale in comparison with other European countries. We must also improve our education work. We are worried most of all about pregnant women--20% of mothers-to-be smoke and endanger their babies." The German government has offered a lone voice of protest within the European Union against the banning of tobacco advertising from all newspapers and magazines, radio and Internet as well as from large events such as motor-racing or concerts, agreement on which was reached this month. More than 500,000 people die each year in the EU of tobacco-related illnesses.

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