Habits

Attica public health inspectors have imposed a financial penalty on an employee of the capital's G. Gennimata hospital after she was found to be smoking on the premises during an inspection on August 8, it emerged on Friday. 

In July, customs officers from the Directorate of Customs Intelligence and Investigation and the Southern Maritime Territorial Directorate detained 1,280,000 pieces / 64,000 boxes / duty-free cigarettes, 102 kg of smoking tobacco and 51 kg of hookah tobacco.

Regional authorities across Greece on Monday received detailed instructions on the strict implementation of a smoking ban that formally went into force more than a decade ago but has been largely flouted ever since.

In an early test of its effectiveness, Greece's new conservative government has pledged to crack down on smoking in enclosed public spaces, finally putting into force a law that was introduced about ten years ago.

A pledge by the government to crack down on smoking in public places - finally enforcing a law that was introduced a decade ago - will initially focus on Greece's Parliament building, followed by ministries, hospitals, schools and other places where social services are provided, officials decided on Wednesday.

Selective implementation of laws is one of Greece's chronic failings, creating inequalities and undermining aspirations for a law-abiding state.

The government's decision to finally implement a smoking ban in enclosed public spaces (one of the toughest laws in Europe) marks a significant step, not just for the obvious health reasons.

As part of a government crackdown, police will play an active role in enforcing Greece's much-flouted anti-smoking law, while a hotline will also be set up so that members of the public can report violations.

The Parliament has rejected introduction of ban on indoor hookah smoking, Focus News Agency reports. The ban was written into the amendments to the Health Act but was not backed by MPs on second reading.

Sweaty and almost naked - just in swimsuits - dune and park tourists annoy local residents of the resorts. Last year, in Gelendzhik, Russia, they created a computer game called "Golopuziki", where everyone can scam a naked tourist. Judging by the number of entries, over 70,000 virtual holidaymakers have been beaten.

A decade after the introduction of a general ban on smoking in enclosed public places in Greece, the country still lags behind other nations in the effort to restrict the addictive habit, the Hellenic Cancer Society (HCS) said on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day 2019 on Friday.