Jump to full article: NewsEdge, 2001-01-05
Intro: Belarus announced a ban on smoking at all medical establishments in the country Thursday, according to reports reaching here from Minsk.
The ban was imposed by orders from Public Health Minister Igor Zelenkevich and came into effect on the same day, a spokesman for the Belarussian Public Health Ministry was quoted as saying. . .
A recent survey indicates that nearly 50 percent of the country 's population smoke. "Belarus is now living through a veritable epidemic of tobacco smoking, which is very dangerous for people's lives," said Deputy Public Health Minister Valery Filonov.
Filonov noted that the drive against smoking in Belarus is especially urgent because the republic had suffered from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster, and each cigarette for a man is "another small Chernobyl."
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