No smoking in Lebanon?
Jump to full article: CNN, 2009-11-16
Author: Schams Elwazer, CNN
Intro: STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* Lebanon has one of the highest smoking rates in the world, according to WHO
* No minimum age to buy cigarettes; 65 percent of 13-15 year old boys smoke
* Anti-smoking guru Dr G Saade says patients with smoking-related diseases getting younger
* Lebanese unlikely to give up the weed easily as they associate smoking with freedom
. . .
In restaurants and cafes, on the streets, in the airport and even in elevators, Lebanese delight in lighting up. The World Health Organization (WHO) says Lebanon has one of the highest smoking rates in the world.
"We are a tobacco-friendly society," says cardiologist Dr. Georges Saade, a former WHO official who now heads the Tobacco Control Project at Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health.
Dr. Saade is a committed anti-smoking campaigner and for years he's fought an uphill battle for funding to increase awareness of the risks of smoking.
The ministry estimates that if attitudes towards smoking don't change, this small nation of four million will experience at least 3,000 tobacco-related deaths each year.
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