At the Fifth Conference on Tobacco Control, he said that smoking killed about six million people annually worldwide, and 1.6 million in Europe, and that even 600,000 thousand deaths among children and women were caused by so-called passive smoking.
“In Montenegro, a third of the population smokes, and of the total number of deaths annually every second person dies of heart and cardiovascular system issues, while one in five persons dies of the cancer, where tobacco is one of the key risk factors,” Kostic said.
He said that the smoking and exposure to tobacco smoke represented a global problem, which had to be addressed through multisectoral collaboration.
According to him, a timely and non-selective approach of inspection services is needed. Not less efforts should be invested in educating, raising awareness of the harmful effects of tobacco use and providing professional psychological assistance to those who want to quit smoking, Kostic stressed.
He reminded that tobacco smoke contained 4,000 harmful substances and 43 carcinogens that caused more than 40 different types of mostly severe diseases.
He said that tobacco affects the quality and length of life, thus causing significant health, social, economic and environmental problems.
He stressed that public and working areas had to be smoke-free, all forms of tobacco advertising was supposed to be banned, including promotions and sponsorships, while excise duties should be raised in order to raise prices of tobacco products.
Mr Kostic said that the Ministry had prepared and Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Restriction of Usage of Tobacco Products and submitted it to the Government, in order to harmonise the law with EU regulations.
