Belgians Ban BBQ

Katherine Mangu-Ward | April 3, 2007

OK, so it's not quite a ban. But there will be a tax on grilling in Wallonia, a French-speaking region of Belgium:

Experts said that between 50 and 100 grams of CO2, a so-called greenhouse gas, is emitted during barbequing. Beginning June 2007, residents of Wallonia will have to pay 20 euros for a grilling session.

But that's not the worst of it. If any wily Walloons are tempted to skip out on the 20 euro surcharge for their char-grilled wieners or steaks, they risk high-tech detection:

The local authorities plan to monitor compliance with the new tax legislation from helicopters, whose thermal sensors will detect burning grills.

To review: The state will be flying CO2-spewing helicopters over neighborhoods in search of telltale thermal images of CO2-spewing BBQ grills. Perhaps they can develop other, more efficient gadgets for their BBQ enforcer helicopters in the future, like smoke detectors or alarms that go off when in the presence of dumb novelty aprons.

UPDATE: Just foolin'. Details here.