Word: tobacco
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...news, and an estimated 10 million Frenchmen tuned in for twice-a-day radio and television broadcasts from the center of town. The occasion for all of the hoopla: in one of the largest group efforts to kick the nicotine habit, 155 citizens of Mauriac decided to give up tobacco, cold turkey.* Their effort has been largely successful. More than 100 townspeople are still abstaining, another 38 have now taken the pledge, and hundreds more have cut down on their smoking...
...campaign began, antitobacco fervor swept through Mauriac. Gaily colored banners proclaiming IT is POSSIBLE TO STOP SMOKING, EMANCIPATE YOURSELF IN FIVE DAYS began to brighten the dreary walls of lava stone buildings. Merchants reported a rush on licorice drops, peanuts, chewing gum, after-dinner mints and other tobacco substitutes. A man of God?his own flesh too weak to relinquish the weed completely?preached a sermon of support from his pulpit in the town's basilica. "I am not one of the courageous 155," acknowledged Father Leon Dumas. "But I have rationed myself down from ten to five cigarettes...
...this convivial atmosphere, even the most confirmed addicts have found new strength. "I was a slave to tobacco. I'd drive ten miles to find a pack of cigarettes if necessary," says Jean Maisonobe. "But I've stopped smoking. I can hardly believe it myself...
Despite the criticism, Mauriac's antismoking crusade seems to have become a permanent fixture. The 143-member nonsmokers association has placed at the town's four entrances blue-and-white signs reading MAURIAC, THE FIRST CITY IN THE WORLD TO HAVE SAID "NO" TO TOBACCO. There are already plans afoot to launch a second antitobacco offensive this summer. Visitors, many of them smokers seeking a cure, are still pouring in and bolstering local businesses?including the tobacco shops...
...final stop before returning to the U.S.: the duty-free shops at practically every large international airport. The foreign-flight waiting rooms in these terminals are technically international territory, and concessionaires operating in them are not required to charge taxes. Most specialize in heavily taxed items, especially liquor, tobacco, cosmetics and perfume. But at some airports the careful shopper can also pick up excellent buys in cameras, radios, tape recorders, French cashmere sweaters, British woolen yard goods, Swiss watches and leather handbags, to name a few of the more widely available goodies. Some tips on airport emporiums...