Passive smoking

Some 250,000 Turkish citizens have quit smoking with the help of "Alo 171," a phone line connecting smokers with the health officials who help them to quit, the country's Health Ministry has said.

In a statement issued for May 31, World No Tobacco Day, the ministry highlighted that more than 700,000 people called the line in 2021 and more than one third succeeded in quitting.

Every year on May 31, World No Smoking Day is celebrated at the initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO).

The initiative is held around the world, highlighting the health risks associated with tobacco use and calling for effective policies to reduce consumption levels.

Tobacco kills more than 8 million people globally every year. More than 7 million of these deaths are from direct tobacco use and around 1.2 million are due to non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis hailed the Health Ministry's National Action Plan Against Smoking as a "bold initiative for protecting public health," at its presentation in Athens on Tuesday.

People will be able to report violations of the smoking ban on a three-digit number, according to Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias, who reiterated the government's intention to enforce the relevant law.

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.

Last year, about 110,000 people died in Bulgaria, nearly 15% of them, or about 17,000 people suffering from some form of cancer, show Eurostat data on mortality rates in EU countries and adverse health effects from smoking , which is a major trigger for many diseases.

Bulgaria is lagging behind the rest of the EU in terms of restrictions that limit  smoking outside.

Seven citizens' groups have sent a letter to the Labor Inspection Corps demanding to know whether the agency is carrying out regular checks on businesses and offices in order to impose a much-flouted smoking ban that was introduced in 2010.

Tobacco use has declined markedly since 2000, according to a new WHO report, but the reduction is insufficient to meet globally agreed targets aimed at protecting people from death and suffering from cardiovascular and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs).