smoking

A large part of the Dutch population want people with an unhealthy lifestyle to pay more for their health insurance, according to a study by Statistics Netherlands. 52 percent of Dutch want smokers to have a higher premium for the basic health insurance package. So do 20 percent of smokers themselves, RTL Nieuws reports.

41 percent said that heavy drinkers should pay more for health insurance. 20 percent want the same for people who do not exercise enough. And a quarter of Dutch think that overweight people should have higher premiums. 

The number of Dutch sports clubs that banned smoking more than doubled this past year. Currently the Netherlands counts 1,152 sports clubs and associations that banned smoking partly or completely, compared to around 550 last year, RTL Nieuws reports.

The number of football clubs that banned smoking increased in the same line as other sports clubs, from 208 last year to 432 now. 94 football clubs banned smoking completely, and 338 others are partly smoke-free, football association KNVB said to the broadcaster.

From January 1st next year, the packages of cigarettes sold in the Netherlands will all have the same shape and neutral colors, State Secretary Paul Blokhuis of Public Health announced as one of the measures meant to make smoking less attractive, NOS reports.

In addition to the usual health warnings, cigarette packages may only contain the name of the manufacturer and information about the type of cigarette. These same rules will apply to shag packaging, and from 2022 likely also to cigars and e-cigarettes. 

Smokers inhale much higher doses of harmful substances than is stated on their cigarette packages, according to a study by Dutch public health institute RIVM. The researchers found that the amount of tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide is at least twice as high as manufacturers claim, ANP reports.

The Dutch government plans to hold so-called smoke-free cigarettes to the same rules that apply to ordinary tobacco products. State Secretary Paul Blokhuis of Public Health is implementing an age limit and a ban on advertising on these products, NU.nl reports. 

"Around this type of product is often the image that they are a smart alternative to ordinary smoking", Blokhuis said. According to him, that idea is misplaced, "because you can become mortally ill of it."

From July 1st KLM will no longer sell cigarettes or other smoking products on board their flights. The airline finds it "no longer of this time", ANP reports.

The Dutch airline will replace cigarettes and tobacco products in their range with other products.

"KLM places great emphasis on health and sports and the sale of cigarettes does not fit in with this", Boet Kreiken, who is responsible for customer experience at the company, said, according to the news wire. 

The airline would not say how much revenue the sale of tobacco products still generates. 

Restaurants, bars and cafes in the Netherlands may no longer have smoking areas, the court in The Hague ruled on Tuesday in a lawsuit filed by non-smokers association Clean Air Nederland (CAN), RTL Nieuws reports.

The Netherlands banned smoking in restaurants and the like in 2008, but added an exception for specially designated smoking areas that must comply to certain rules. The court now ruled that this exception for smoking rooms is contrary to the World Health Organization's rules on combating tobacco use. 

The Uganda Media Council banned the screening of Dutch film De Eetclub at the Euro-Uganda Film Festival and anywhere else in the country because it "glorifies homosexuality", and features scenes of smoking, drinking and sexual intercourse. The embassy of the Netherlands in Kampala posted the Uganda Media Council's objections on their Facebook page.

Dutch youth smoke less, drink less, use fewer drugs and are less often in trouble with the law, according to Statistics Netherlands 2016 Youth Monitor which was published on Thursday, the Telegraaf reports.

Antisocial passengers are causing more and more problems on planes, according to th Environment and Transport Inspectorate. In the first three quarters of this year the Inspectorate received 723 reports of antisocial behavior. That is the same number as in all of 2015, AD reports.

The most common problems are smoking in the plane with 38 percent of the complaints, antisocial behavior with 35 percent and alcohol with 27 percent of complaints having to do with intoxicated passengers.

In an open letter on their website on Thursday, doctors' association KNMG called for a ban on selling tobacco and cigarettes in supermarkets, gas station stores, bookstores and drug stores.