Abstract

Most European countries have adopted partial or comprehensive smoking bans in public places within a short period of time, although the underlying evidence on the risk of second-hand smoke is almost 20 years old. After giving a short overview of European smoking bans, the article aims to analyze and discuss what can explain this wave of smoking bans, not only regarding the similarities of the bans themselves, but also of the arguments proposed in favor of them. While typical explanations in public policy studies fall short of explaining the momentum and similarity of smoking bans, the article discusses how the selective framing of knowledge and innocent victims can help to explain the strong impact of this particular policy proposal.