Author:
Beta
Milosavljevic stressed that Serbian citizens spend the same amount of money on cigarettes as the annual budget of the Health Insurance Fund.
The main objective is to make smoking socially unacceptable, he said and added that people must become aware that if they stop smoking, they will reduce dangers from various diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart attack.
He also said that the EU intends to ban smoking in public places by 2009.
Some of the measures to reduce smoking are to reduce tobacco sales and increase the price of tobacco products as well as the prohibition of smoking in public places, he added.
Director of the Serbian Institute of Public Health Tanja Knezevic said that under the 2007 action plan, the number of young smokers should be reduced by 1% whereas the number of workplaces with a no smoking policy should go up by 5%.
Serbian Assistant Minister of Health Snezana Simic said that throughout 2006, sanitary and health inspections of the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Policy as well as market inspection were involved in tobacco control actions.
Simic specified that 74,846 inspection controls were performed in that period, 189 mandatory fines were issued, 391 charges filed and 337 decisions on removing irregularities issued.
She recalled that the Law on the prohibition of smoking in closed spaces envisages fines of between RSD 50,000 and RSD 500,000 for legal persons and RSD 5,000 for natural persons.
The national day without tobacco smoke is being observed under the slogan "One Smoker – Many Victims". On this occasion, a public performance was held on the Republic Square which included a creative workshop and a quiz.
Also, smokers were able to exchange cigarettes for fruit, while former smokers and visitors wrote notes and filled in questionnaires on legal regulations regarding tobacco.
As for sportspeople promoting the campaign, this year it was karateist Tanja Petrovic and water polo players Filip Filipovic and Andrija Prlajinovic. They told the young to avoid places polluted with tobacco smoke and to participate in sports.
Observation of the national day without tobacco smoke was organised by the Ministry of Health's Tobacco Control Office, National Smoking Prevention Committee, Serbian Public Health Institute, Serbian Public Health Association, European Agency for Reconstruction (EAR) as well as students' and other organisations.