Italians smoking more despite national ban

ROME, Jan 31 (Reuters) Italians are smoking more, even though their cigarettes cost more and a national ban has made it illegal for them to light-up in restaurants, bars and offices, according to a new study.

Italians smoked about 1 million kilos more cigarettes in 2006 than in 2005, the year Italy became one of Europe's first countries to ban smoking indoors.

The 2006 rise, reported this week by Italy's respected Ref economic research centre, followed three years of declining cigarette sales and followed surveys showing that hundreds of thousands of Italians had kicked the tobacco habit.

It also came despite an average 0.20 euro increase in the price of a packet of cigarettes, according to Ref.

The study coincided with a call from the European Union's health chief for the entire bloc to impose smoking bans. It also prompted calls for stricter enforcement in Italy and greater effort to educate Italians about the dangers of tobacco.

''Since 2005, there has not been an educational campaign. There haven't been enough inspections,'' said former Health Minister Girolamo Sirchia, a former smoker who pushed for the national ban under the previous centre-right government.

The study suggested that weather, too, could have played a role, with warmer autumn temperatures allowing Italians more time outdoors where they can still smoke legally. Bars and restaurants have also now prepared more smoking areas outdoors.

Health officials say smoking kills 90,000 Italians a year. Data from the EU shows 19,000 non-smokers die from passive smoking each year in the euro zone.

A Health Ministry spokesman said the government was preparing a new programme to ''encourage a more healthy lifestyle'' that aimed to reduce the number of smokers.

REUTERS SY MIR RAI0835