[Smoking prevention in France from 1997 to 1999]

The years following the adoption of the Veil law (passed in 1977) were not characterised by substantial results in terms of a reduction in tobacco consumption. In 1991, the Evin law marked an important step in the regeneration and structuring of the fight against this substance. It is within this see-sawing context of smoking behaviour that a three-year (1997-1999) plan was supported and implemented by the French National Social Security and the French Committee for Health Education. The central theme was to help people to quit. During this same time period, the consensus conference (1997) as well as the announcement of a governmental plan (1999) came about to consolidate and magnify these directions. The observance of the change in tobacco consumption permits one to acknowledge that the Evin law and its measures for assistance had a positive impact during the early 1990s. On the other hand, this impact seems to have been on the whole "blunted" throughout the second half of the decade. The main hypothesis to explain this stagnation is that the increase in the price of tobacco was less sensitive and that the measures aimed at enforcing this law were less often applied, whereas at the very same time the commitment of the actors involved in the fight against smoking was strong. This assessment permits one to: 1) confirm the fact that in public health, health promotion actions are effective when they are jointly associated with initiatives that are coercive (the law and its application) and educational, the development of the environment and the improvement of care; and 2) remember the importance of truly applying the clauses of the Evin law and perhaps eventually adding to them.