Smoking in Moldova can be associated with epidemic

The gradual rise in specific taxes on tobacco may be a solution for reducing smoking, as the institution of a counseling and treatment service for those who want to give up smoking, the first deputy head of the National Public Health Center Ion Salaru said in a meeting of the national tobacco control coordination council, Info-Prim Neo reports. Ion Salaru stated that smoking is widely spread in Moldova and can be associated with an epidemic. Each second man in Moldova smokes. The smoking women represent 7% of all the women. Almost 14% of the teens smoke and this is worrisome. According to Salaru, the cost-efficiency studies of the tobacco control measures show that the most cost-efficient measure is the increase in taxes by 30-80% of the retail price. The direct economic costs of tobacco use, connected with the low productivity owing to premature deaths, hospitalization and treatment of smoking-related diseases, amounted to about 430 million lei in 2010. The first deputy head of the National Public Health Center considers that a number of measures should be taken to reduce tobacco use. Besides increasing the taxes on tobacco, the free areas for smoking in education and medical institutions and at the workplace should be extended. A counseling and therapy service and a green line should be created to help the people give up smoking. There should be also printed warnings and pictograms on tobacco items. Statistics show that over 10% of the deaths in Moldova are caused by smoking or exposure to cigarette smoke. The smokers die by 10-15 earlier than the non-smokers.