Czech Republic: One-third of Czechs Smoke, Expert Says

Source from:  Prague Daily Monitor (cz)  12/05/2013

One third of Czechs smoke and the number of smokers among young people is even higher, which may lead to an increase in tobacco-related deaths, doctor Eva Kralikova, from a centre for tobacco addiction at Prague's General Teaching Hospital, has told CTK.
 
Kralikova said 18,000 Czechs die annually due to smoking, mostly of cancer (8000), heart and vascular diseases such as heart attack and stroke (7000) and respiratory diseases (2000).
 
The most frequent type of tobacco-related cancer is lung cancer, with 5000 deaths every year. The annual number of non-smokers dying of cancer is about 1500 in the country, Kralikova said.
 
She said smoking increased the risk of all types of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease.
 
Kralikova said the number of heart strokes would annually fall by some 4500, or about 17 percent, if people were not allowed to smoke in restaurants.
 
The Health Ministry would like to introduce a total ban on smoking in restaurants and bars, but this step probably does not have enough support in parliament.
 
Health Minister Leos Heger said previously such a ban would protect 30 percent of underage smokers from turning into tobacco addicts, referring to a 2012 student survey.
 
Pub owners say their profits would drop if smoking was banned, but it has turned out that people who did not go to restaurants due to smoke started doing so after the ban.
 
Kralikova said cigarette smoke caused 10 percent of children's acute leukaemia cases and it was also often behind respiratory problems among children like middle ear infection and asthma.
 
She said she considers electronic cigarettes bad because these cigarettes make the impression of false safety. "Children start smoking them and then they easily move to normal cigarettes," she added.
 
Smokers who try to quit smoking via electronic cigarettes may find themselves smoking more than before if they fail in their effort and return to normal cigarettes because they get used to higher doses of nicotine, Kralikova noted.
 
Half of Czech smokers tried an electronic cigarette, but only 5 percent of the smokers bought them more than once.
 
Kralikova said it is best not to smoke at all. She said she was a smoker herself as a medical student but that she managed to get rid of the habit. Enditem