EU lawmakers fail to uphold their own smoking ban

STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - European lawmakers have voted to set up sealed smokers' rooms in their Strasbourg and Brussels buildings after a voluntary ban on lighting up failed, officials said on Tuesday.

"A complete ban started on January 1. In practice this was not working too well, people were not obeying it," said a press officer for the EU parliament in Strasbourg.

The vote comes two weeks after the EU's Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said he would seek a comprehensive ban on smoking in public places across the bloc's 27 member countries.

"It certainly is an odd message. Everywhere else in the world, smoking bans are respected," said a second parliament official.