Tobacco.org

• Egypt Attempts to Curb Smoking in Public  

But some doctors and lawmakers here want to change Egypt's smoking culture. The country's parliament recently passed laws banning tobacco advertising and smoking in some public places including government buildings, schools and hospitals.

The law also calls for health warning labels to be put on cigarette packs and allows the government to increase the price of tobacco, according to parliament member Hamdi el-Sayyed, who proposed the new laws. The national cigarette brand, Cleopatra, sells for about 50 cents a pack. . . .

Sherif Omar, parliament member and professor emeritus with Cairo University's National Cancer Institute, also has doubt over the new laws. He said education was the only way to get young people to put down the water pipe and cigarettes, but anti-smoking education is not part of school curriculum here.

''Law by themselves do not work well unless you have education in schools and in the media,'' he said.

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