Smoking cessation

Electronic cigarettes and novel tobacco products have been around for more than a decade as alternatives to cigarette smoking, which kills nearly 700,000 people in the EU every year. However, they remain a controversial issue and the EU is still hesitant about how to treat them legally.

Port of Bar in Montenegro. Photo: Government of Montenegro

"Our international partners' reports have expressed concern over the large volume of illegal transit and illegal placing on the market of tobacco products on the territory of Montenegro. They also emphasize that activities in the Port of Bar indicate the existence of security risks," the government said.

This yearly celebration informs the public on the dangers of using tobacco, the business practices of tobacco companies, what WHO is doing to fight the tobacco epidemic, and what people around the world can do to claim their right to health and healthy living and to protect future generations.

Electronic cigarettes and novel tobacco products have been around for more than a decade as alternatives to cigarette smoking, which kills nearly 700,000 people in the EU every year. However, they remain a controversial issue and the EU is still hesitant about how to treat them legally.

A study by the National Patients' Organization has found out that 59% of Bulgarians between the age of 19 and 64 are smokers.

Almost all respondents smoke cigarettes and very few use smokeless tobacco or e-cigarettes.

According to the study, 44% of smokers do not intend to change their bad habit, while another 41% plan to reduce smoking.

In a bid to crack down on the illegal trade in tobacco, the government is designing a new system that will issue products with unique traceability codes that will accompany each packet from the phase of production, through marketing and up until it reaches consumers.

The number of deaths from pulmonary diseases in the United States caused by smoking electronic cigarettes has reached 37. The number of patients has exceeded 1,800 people, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, cited by the BGNES.

The cigarette black market in Romania fell in September below 11pct of the total consumption, for the first time in the last ten years, due to the sharp reduction in "no-name" products, show the findings of the Novel research, made public on Thursday. At the national level, the illegal trade in cigarettes thus reached 10.5pct, down 3.2 percentage points compared to July this year.

Over 8,000,000 pieces of illegal cigarettes were seized as part of a joint operation by the State Security Service and the Customs Agency.

Cigarettes and cigarette-free tobacco were seized by police in Haskovo

Police in Istanbul seized over 1,600 e-cigarettes and more than 10,000 of their spare parts, a security source said.