Minnesota Legislature's 2007 session

Smoking bans have come and gone

by Nikki Tundel, Minnesota Public Radio

Smoking bans are nothing new. People have been debating the right to light up since the day European explorers returned from the New World with tobacco.

St. Paul, Minn. — After an eight-hour debate, the Minnesota House passed the "Freedom to Breathe" bill on Thursday.

This move by Minnesota lawmakers is simply the latest in a worldwide wave of new smoking legislation. Politicians from India to Iceland are re-evaluating just where their citizens should be allowed to light up.

While it might seem like a modern-day debate, the fight for the right to smoke -- or avoid smoke -- has been going on for centuries.

Reporter Nikki Tundel takes a look at the curious history of smoking bans.