Ten thousand people die in Israel each year as a result of
smoking and 1,500 die due to passive smoking according to
statistics the Israel Cancer Association (ICA) published last
week to mark No-Smoking Day.
World Health Organization (WHO) figures show five million
people around the world die annually as a result of smoking,
which is equivalent to 560 people per hour or 13,400 per day.
According to projections, if the number of smokers does not
decrease by 2020 the annual death rate could rise to 8.4
million.
Since 1987 WHO member nations have held No-Smoking Day, which
is aimed at raising the hazards of smoking onto the public
agenda, encouraging smokers to quit and preventing potential
smokers — mostly young people — from starting.
According to the ICA spokesman the campaign against smoking
requires an ongoing war and effective ways to enforce laws
that have already been legislated, including the law
restricting smoking in public places.
"Action should be taken in the area of taxation as an
effective and important tool in reducing tobacco consumption
in various segments of the population, as well as actions to
limit the sale of duty-free tobacco products, to promote
quitting and to treat nicotine addiction and to act even more
intensively in educational institutions in order to stomp out
the fatal advertising campaigns sponsored by cigarette
companies as well as event sponsorships and gift handouts to
young people." (ITIM)
