IT’S HARD to tackle smoking in Cyprus because penalties imposed for lighting up in no smoking areas are always very low, Health Minister Frixos Savvides said yesterday
The penalty for smoking or for failure to display no-smoking signs in places like taxis, hospitals and other public places is up to £500 pounds, but the amount imposed for breaking the law is always much smaller, the minister said.
Savvides was speaking at a news conference about the ‘Winning by giving-up smoking’ competition.
"There is an urgent need for people to cut down on smoking because smokers affect non-smokers’ health even when they are really careful not to. For instance, when someone has smoked in an elevator when he was on his own, the smoke will remain in it for hours, so everyone who enters later will inhale nicotine," Savvides said.
According to research published by the Ministry of Health a year ago, 23 per cent of the Cypriot adult population are smokers.
"The 2000 International Competition ‘Winning by giving up smoking’ is the biggest international effort to tackle smoking," the minister said.
It is estimated that one hundred countries, including Cyprus, will take part in the competition, drawing in half a million to a million smokers from all over the world. Finland’s Institute Of Public Health is co-ordinating the competition.
Competitors in Cyprus must fill in a form from the Ministry of Health and will then try to abstain from smoking from May 2 to May 29. Urine and breath tests will then identify those who have managed not to smoke a single cigarette for the set period. Out of those people, a random group will be picked out by drawing lots.
First out of the hat in Cyprus will receive £500, the second will get £300 and the third £200. The winner also goes into an international draw, with $10,000 to be won.
And if that’s not enough of an incentive, "it is estimated that half of current smokers will die because of smoking if they do not give it up at some point, and the other half will lose at least 20 years of their lives," the minister said.
Four million people die every year because of smoking and it is estimated that in 25 years the death toll will rise to ten million a year, he added.
