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SOLOMON: What is it about Cypriots, tobacco and suicide souvla?  

Giorgios was done 12 years ago by Panicos, a distant relation of mine and heart specialist at the Apollonion Hospital. Giorgios reckons he was lucky to survive and has reduced his smoking to a cigar every evening, just like President Sarkozy. Cutting out cigarettes has more than covered the cost of the operation. . . .

Manolis stubbornly chose to go out with a bang - he would get through half a bottle of whisky and 10 cigarettes with his souvla. After the fourth stent, he miraculously came to his senses and reduced from five packs a day (one every ten minutes) to just one, no whisky or souvla. He is now a slim shadow of his former self - inactive, laconic and sad.

What is it about Cypriots, tobacco and suicide souvla? Do we compete to see who can smoke and eat the most, abusing our bodies in search of Zen and the Art of Merc Maintenance? What's the alternative - antidepressants? Outwardly, we seem such a happy people...

I smoke a pipe like a baby sucks its dummy - unloved as a child I suppose. . . .

No longer are these old souls left outside to die when too aged to be useful. Nowadays they watch the box in centrally heated wood cabins, smoke, go shopping on snow scooters, eat McDonalds and suffer heart attacks. Thought for food, n'est-ce pas?

You are what you eat, said Nietzsche. It is rumoured that the great German thinker committed suicide. He must have been of Cypriot extraction and never said so...

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• Cyprus bans smoking at work and play  

NICOSIA (AFP) - The Cyprus parliament voted by a large majority on Thursday to make the Mediterranean holiday island the latest EU country to ban smoking in bars, restaurants, nightclubs and workplaces.

The bill, which tightens up existing legislation that has gone largely unenforced, was carried by 27 votes to three in the 56-seat parliament with one abstention.

The sweeping changes come into effect from January 1, 2010 so as to give establishments, and smokers, time to adjust, although amendments can be made to the law before it becomes active.

Smoking will be allowed only in outside open areas such as courtyards or street cafes, while employers will be required to provide a closed smoking area for employees dying for a puff.

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• Die-hard Cypriot smokers must stub out by Jan 1  

Die-hard smokers in Cyprus will finally have to curb the habit when one of the last EU smoking havens imposes a January 1 ban on puffing in public places.

Lawmakers are poised to pass tough new regulations banning smoking in public places, replacing an existing law which is regularly flouted.

Come January 1, smoking will be prohibited in restaurants, bars, nightclubs and workplaces, with planned hefty fines for those caught having a puff.

Nightclub owners are not amused. "Music, alcohol, and cigarettes go well together," said Phytos Thrasivoulou, head of the Cyprus Federation of Restauranteurs.

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MPs want smoking ban before summer recess 

MEMBERS of the House Health Committee yesterday voiced concerns that today's scheduled meeting to discuss the smoking ban proposal may not take place due to absenteeism, reiterating the need to discuss the bill before parliament closes for the summer.

To pre-empt the absences, the committee is set to meet three hours later today. Reports last night said President Christofias would be meeting party leaders today, to hear arguments in favour of postponing the parliamentary vote until October.

Meanwhile, the Non-Smokers League of the Cyprus Anti-Cancer Society is set to hold a demonstration outside parliament today, calling for a smoking ban in entertainment venues.

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• Passive smoking threatens Cyprus children-survey 

Children in Cyprus have alarming levels of nicotine in their blood, researchers said on Monday, highlighting passive smoking as a threat to development.

The Health Ministry found traces of metabolised nicotine, known as cotinine, in the saliva of 94 percent of children from non-smoking households and 97 percent of all surveyed children.

Eighteen percent of children aged between 4 and 8 showed high levels of the substance, the researchers said, citing a study of 71 households.

"The fact that children who lived in a non-smoking environment had cotinine suggests it is in their broader environment, like relatives' homes or other areas," said Stella Michaelidou, director of the State Laboratory.

"It is a pilot survey but the results are too significant to ignore," she said.

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• Smoking ban, shaky economy wallop Dutch bars  

He is not the only Dutch smoker deciding to stay home. Bars and cafes in the Netherlands are seeing revenues slump after the government introduced a smoking ban in July, shortly before the credit crisis took hold.

The double whammy is costing bars as much as 30 percent of their business, said Joris Prinssen of Royal Horeca Netherlands, a lobbying group representing 20,000 bar and restaurant owners.

Other countries, too, have been hit by the coinciding smoking bans and economic malaise.

Gerard Laloi, who heads a group that represents France's bar owners, said beer sales fell 12 percent in the first nine months of the year compared with the same period last year. France banned smoking in bars and restaurants on Jan. 1. . . .

In Israel and Cyprus smoking bans also are regularly flouted.

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Support grows for total public smoking ban  

MPs on the House Health Committee yesterday considered ways to improve implementation of the ban on smoking in public places, which in many cases is little more than a dead letter.

Committee Chairman Eleni Theocharous of DISY said there was a significant difference of opinion during the meeting, both among deputies and other implicated bodies.

But as she pointed out, the idea of a total smoking ban in all public areas, was the most prominent.

"This is supported by restaurateurs and nightclub owners, mainly because they would not be forced to create separate areas for smokers," Theocharous explained.

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Zila to Begin Distributing Its Proprietary Oral Cancer Screening Product, ViziLite Plus, in Greece 

Zila, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZILA) today announced that it has selected Intertrade Dental A.E.S.A. to be the exclusive distributor of ViziLite® Plus with TBlue™, Zila's proprietary oral cancer screening product, in Greece and Cyprus. Intertrade has placed orders for ViziLite Plus and plans to immediately begin training its sales representatives and preparing the market for the product launch. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

"ViziLite Plus will provide dental professionals in Greece and Cyprus with an effective screening tool in the fight against oral cancer,"

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• Top judges call for total smoking ban 

THE existing smoking ban law is not being enforced and what Cyprus really needs is a total ban on smoking.

These are not the conclusions of health experts or politicians, but of two Supreme Court judges who have had enough of the shortcomings of anti-smoking legislation.

The law which prescribes measures for the containment of public smoking was passed by the House of Representatives in June 2002.

"Between 2002 and 2008, there has not been an actual compliance with the anti-smoking law nor has it been effectively enforced," write Takis Eliades and Demetris Hadjihambis in an open letter.

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EDITORIAL: Enforce smoking ban to save lives in Cyprus 

Hopes and aspirations that the Christofias administration would implement a more balanced and fair social policy have been blown away following the government's inability to enforce a smoking ban in public areas. . . .

Government officials should set the example by pushing through for better implementation of the smoking ban, because the friendly local police officer will not be bothered to impose the law on his own. Ireland started the drive to smoke-free pubs and restaurants in a move which was followed by almost all other European countries, including the UK and France.

If we can't save lives by banking the smoke, why bother with hiking traffic fines?

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Cyprus signs agreement to combat illegal cigarette trade 

THE European Commission, together with 26 participating EU member states, including Cyprus, and JTI (Japan Tobacco International) have signed a 15-year agreement providing for an efficient system to fight cigarette smuggling and counterfeiting.

Through the agreement, JTI will work with the European Commission, its anti-fraud office OLAF and law enforcement authorities of the member states to help in the fight against contraband.

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Cyprus launches anti-smoking raids on nightclubs 

Thirty-three nightclub owners in Cyprus were charged this weekend with allowing customers to smoke at will inside their premises, Cyprus Sunday Mail reported on Sunday.

Health officials raided 26 nightclubs in Nicosia, the island's capital, with another seven in the southeastern port city of Larnaca, finding various violations of anti-smoking law and regulations.

In the eastern Mediterranean state, restaurants, cafes, bars and clubs are allowed to have a designated smoking area as long as there is sufficient ventilation.

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Lit cigarette blamed for truck blaze 

A POLISH man narrowly escaped with his life yesterday after the van he was reportedly sleeping in burst into flames in the parking area near Solomou Square around lunchtime yesterday. . . .

Reports later said he was Polish and had fallen asleep in the back of the van while smoking a cigarette

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• Gallaher 'smuggling' claim  

GALLAHER faces fresh accusations of colluding with Customs to mislead parliament about alleged complicity in tobacco smuggling, according to legal papers that will be lodged in court this week.

The claim is one of three cases dogging the British firm and threatens to derail the £7.5 billion takeover bid by Japan Tobacco International, which Gallaher’s board has recommended to shareholders.

The legal action, to be filed in Cyprus, is part of a dispute between Gallaher and its former distributor in the Middle East, Tlais Enterprises Ltd (TEL), based in Limassol.

However, TEL, run by Lebanese businessman Abu Hameed Tlais, is now bringing Revenue & Customs into the conflict, claiming £250m in damages for breach of contract.

The inclusion of a government agency in the legal dispute could delay the takeover, given that behind the latest writ is an allegation that financial mismanagement by Customs was covered up.

At issue is an agreement between the three parties, which senior Customs officials authorised in December 2002 and hailed as a breakthrough in their fight to control smuggling into Britain of Gallaher’s key brands — Sovereign and Dorchester. The so-called “tripartite agreement” gave Customs the ability to monitor the activities of a major distributor for the first time.

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EU official urges Cypriots to stop smoking 

An European Union health commissioner launched a second part of an anti-smoking campaign in Nicosia on Friday, urging Cypriots to stop smoking.

EU Commissioner responsible for Health and Consumer Protection Markos Kyprianou launched the campaign titled "Help - For a Life Without Tobacco" at Eleftheria square in central Nicosia.

"I hope that through this campaign, Cypriots, who have a high standard of education, will manage to reduce smoking since nearly 45 percent of the population of Cyprus are smokers," Kyprianou told reporters, warning Cypriots of the negative impact of smoking.

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