Tobacco.org

GUREZ: Tobacco Industry - bankrupt but promising 

Year by year, numerous anti-smoking campaigns are carried out all over the world. However the number of smokers does not decrease, on the contrary, it grows. Moldova is not an exception. A recent study shows that the rate of mortality from illnesses caused by consumption of tobacco products in the Republic of Moldova is 2.2 times higher than in Europe and makes up 864 persons per 100,000, while the share of smokers at present makes up 46%. Even sadder is the fact that the rate of tobacco consumption among children of up to 10 years of age and adolescents is very high. Thus, according to national studies carried out among pupils aged 13-15, at present 24% of boys and 10% of girls smoke.

It would seem that the high number of smokers is produced by the well-developed tobacco industry. . . .

Certainly, the intention of the government to develop a branch that used to be extremely profitable in the soviet period is grounded, especially since export demand is quite high. On the other hand, each person has the right to choose whether to smoke or not. And as long as the number of those who do is sufficiently large in Moldova and abroad, tobacco industry is worth being developed.

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