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• Anti-smoking expert will try to persuade Israelis to quit  

The average Israeli doesn't like to get advice about anything from foreigners - and the same is usually true of government offices. But the Health Ministry's Healthy Israel 2020 project on preventing disease and promoting good health - headed by Dr. Leah Rosen and Dr. Eli Rosenberg - is keen on learning from everyone.

Aware that tobacco is the leading cause of preventible death - killing 10,000 Israelis a year - and that the smoking rate has remained steady at about 25% of the population despite strict (but often unenforced) no-smoking laws, they recently invited Prof. Paul McDonald, a smoking prevention expert at Ontario's University of Waterloo, to counsel senior ministry officials and outside experts. Although it was his first visit to Israel and he had to be briefed about the Israeli situation, including legislation and enforcement, McDonald quickly found his bearings and discussed his ideas in an interview with The Jerusalem Post.

Learning that Health Minister Ya'acov Ben-Yizri, 79, has been smoking two or three packs a day for six decades but has vowed not to do it in public, McDonald said: "I would tell him it's never too late to stop. Even at his age, it can add months or years to his life and improve his quality of life. It's important to set an example for children and young adults, especially as health minister." Hearing that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is a longtime cigar smoker but tries not to get caught by a camera, the Canadian expert said it was "unfortunate, but at least he and the health minister don't do it in public." . . .

Having heard that Israel has for years, even decades, had increasingly strict anti-smoking laws on the books but that they are widely disregarded, McDonald said: "I am learning more and more about local enforcement. Israelis don't understand the importance of the issue. If they think it is unlikely they will be punished for violating the law, they will ignore it. In Ireland, for example, when tobacco was outlawed in smoky pubs, the government made it clear it would enforce the law, and educated the public on why this was important.

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