• The world’s first known smoking ban may actually date back to 1590, when Pope Urban VII threatened to excommunicate anyone who “took tobacco in the porchway of or inside a church, whether it be by chewing it, smoking it with a pipe or sniffing it in powdered form through the nose”, during his 13-day term

• The first nationwide tobacco ban was imposed by Hitler, in every German university, post-office, military hospital and Nazi Party office

• In 1990, the city of San Luis Obispo, California, became the first city in the world to ban indoor smoking at all public places, including bars and restaurants. In 1998, California enacted a complete smoking ban that included bars

• In 1975, Minnesota in the US became the first state to ban smoking in public spaces like health-care facilities, day-care premises and public schools. While restaurants were required to have ‘No Smoking’ sections, bars were exempt. Under the Freedom to Breathe Act, 2007, designated smoking areas, smoking in places of employment and public transportation are no longer permitted

• In 2003, New York City extended the smoking ban to all restaurants and bars, including those in private clubs, making it one of the toughest in the United States. The city’s Department of Health found in 2004 that air pollution levels had decreased six-fold in bars and restaurants after the ban went into effect

• In March 2004, Ireland became the first country to impose a ban on smoking in public places. In 2008, it is expected to ban advertising in shops (advertising is already banned in print, on radio and television and on billboards) and ensure that cigarettes remain out of sight when stored behind counters

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