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• Lebanon 'must move' to ban smoking 

Lebanon must move urgently toward a comprehensive ban on smoking in public places, tobacco advertising and event sponsorship, and add warning labels to tobacco products in order to avoid thousands of preventable tobacco-related deaths annually, health experts said Wednesday. Speaking at a tobacco control workshop for journalists organized by the Health Ministry's National Tobacco Control Program, health officials said around 3,500 people in Lebanon die each year from diseases associated with smoking or exposure to second-hand smoke. The figures suggest, more people in Lebanon die from tobacco than tuberculosis, pneumonia, HIV/AIDS and car accidents combined.

Lebanon "should implement the same measures being taken in other countries as soon as possible," said Health Minister Mohammad Jawad Khalifeh, referring to the total smoking ban already in place in dozens of countries across the world. . . .

Some 75 percent of children are subject to second-hand smoke exposure, increasing their chances of suffering from asthma, chronic bronchitis, eye and ear infections, potentially fatal lung and respiratory illnesses, and cot death.

Lebanon's lax approach to tobacco control is straining its health sector, Khalifeh said: "We spend $900 million [annually] to treat heart and lung diseases caused by tobacco exposure."

Even eating out can be a deadly experience, said Dr. Georges Saade, the Health Ministry's Tobacco Control Program's coordinator. A survey of 30 pubs and restaurants in Lebanon found the levels of tobacco smoke pollution to be dramatically higher than World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations of less than 15 micrograms cubed per day.

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