Tobacco.org

• Bulgarian FC President Arrested in Greece over Cigarette Smuggling in UK 

The President of Bulgaria's Belasitsa football club Kostadin Hadzhiivanov, dubbed Kotse Matsa, was arrested Tuesday in Greece over cigarette smuggling in the UK. Photo by gong.bg

The President of Bulgaria's Belasitsa football club Kostadin Hadzhiivanov, dubbed Kotse Matsa, was arrested Tuesday in Greece over cigarette smuggling in the UK.

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Zila to Begin Distributing Its Proprietary Oral Cancer Screening Product, ViziLite Plus, in Greece 

Zila, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZILA) today announced that it has selected Intertrade Dental A.E.S.A. to be the exclusive distributor of ViziLite® Plus with TBlue™, Zila's proprietary oral cancer screening product, in Greece and Cyprus. Intertrade has placed orders for ViziLite Plus and plans to immediately begin training its sales representatives and preparing the market for the product launch. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

"ViziLite Plus will provide dental professionals in Greece and Cyprus with an effective screening tool in the fight against oral cancer,"

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"Green Light" to Draft-bill against Smoking 

Health Ministry draft-bill forbidding sale of tobacco products to under 18 year-old youth was approved by the Inner Cabinet chaired by the Prime-minister. The Cabinet convened on Tuesday to examine health related issues. In parallel, smoking in indoor public places will be forbidden as of 2010 in Greece.

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• Greek government plans to ban smoking by 2010 : Health 

Greece, Europe's biggest smoking nation, will be running out of places to light up by 2010 as the government will finally enforce European Union guidelines banning smoking in many public places. The Health Ministry said Wednesday it would gradually ban smoking in public places, such as cafes and restaurants by 2010 after previous partial bans were ignored.

Two previous laws, forcing businesses, bars, cafes, restaurants and taxis to limit smoking to designated areas has largely been ignored.

The government will also introduce heavy fines to anyone that does not abide by the regulations.

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• Attorney general sues Greek cigarette firm 

Just as it did last year, the state Attorney General's Office has sued a Greek company for improperly selling cigarettes in West Virginia.

In a lawsuit filed last week in Kanawha Circuit Court, the state alleges that SeKap S.A., a cigarette company based in Piraeus, Greece, failed to put money into an escrow account as required of "tobacco product manufacturers" by state law.

The suit alleges that SeKap sold 1,040,400 units of Marathon brand cigarettes and 367,600 units of GR brand cigarettes in 2007. As a cigarette maker that has not registered with the state, those sales would require the firm to put $35,348.97 into an escrow account.

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• Greece's Muslim minority under threat as tobacco subsidies dry up  

In the wake of a European Union reform in 2006 that put a lid on tobacco subsidies, most of Greece's growers are having to rethink their future.

A remote corner of Thrace, one of the European Union's poorest regions, is home to most of Greece's 100,000-member Muslim minority which includes ethnic Turks but also the Pomaks, Muslims of Slavic origin.

Life and tradition here have always been closely associated with the cultivation of tobacco.

A world removed from the city bars and coffee-shops where customers crave his product, 63-year-old farmer Hussein Emin praised the virtues of tobacco as he sat on a broken chair outside his farm. . . .

Little help has come from the Greek state, which for the most part is content to leave the Turkish-origin minority to their own devices.

Unionists warn that without an alternative crop strategy the villages will empty as the inhabitants seek a better future elsewhere.

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Enormous contraband smokes haul off Icaria 

The coast guard discovered more than 36 tons kilos of cigarettes stashed on a ship they intercepted off the Aegean island of Icaria, in what port authorities described as the biggest illegal tobacco haul in 10 years.

The coast guard boarded the Sierre Leone-flagged vessel after it suffered engine problems and started to drift 10 nautical miles off the island. . . .

The five-member crew, who are believed to have been heading for Ukraine, were all arrested. On Wednesday, police confiscated 3.72 million packets of cigarettes at Thermopyles in central Greece. Officials said that their final destination was Belgium or Germany.

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• Greece to ban smoking in public places: ministry 

Greece is to impose a smoking ban in public places, the health ministry announced Wednesday, after previous partial-bans were ignored in what is one of Europe's heaviest smoking nations.

Two previous laws, forcing businesses, bars and restaurants to limit smoking to designated areas, were widely flouted.

The new total ban, which will also include a provision to raise the tobacco-purchasing age to 18, will be presented to the Greek parliament in June.

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Greek Tobacco Growers Protest Against EU Subsidy Cuts - AFP 

Around 1,500 Greek tobacco growers marched in Athens Thursday in an opening protest against European Union subsidy cuts scheduled to kick off similar action around the continent.

The tobacco growers are opposed to a gradual reduction of E.U. subsidies that the bloc decided in a 2004 reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

"The money belongs to those who watered the fields with their sweat for years, " read a banner carried by the protesters who marched on the Greek parliament and blocked the city center for hours.

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Nicotine addiction among physicians in Greece 

Of those who reported smoking as “just a habit”, 30,7 % (23 of 75) scored > 6 on the FTND subscale. Scores FTND>6 indicate “Nicotine Dependance”. There were significant differences on demographic subscales between those presenting with or without nicotine addiction (i.e age, years of smoking and family conditions).

Conclusions

An extrapolation of our results to encompass all physicians in Greece would be reasonable, since physicians are a rather homogeneous group in this country. Our results are especially alarming because anti-smoking campaigns are usually more successful in doctors than in the general population. References

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Smoking, alcohol and coffee consumption in Greek adolescents 

Conclusions

Although the prevalence of smoking and alcohol consumption is lower than other epidemiological data, is still remaining high, indicating the need of the orientation of the local health system to educate and protect the adolescents of these hurtful conventions.

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• Greek tobacco growers protest against EU subsidy cuts 

Around 1,500 Greek tobacco growers marched in Athens on Thursday in an opening protest against European Union subsidy cuts scheduled to kick off similar action around the continent.

The tobacco growers are opposed to a gradual reduction of EU subsidies that the bloc decided in a 2004 reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

"The money belongs to those who watered the fields with their sweat for years," read a banner carried by the protesters who marched on the Greek parliament and blocked the city centre for hours.

"We demand a return to a 100-percent subsidy scheme for our produce," George Doubliotis, a senior member of the Greek tobacco growers federation told AFP.

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• Ban on smoking by 2010 

Greeks, among the heaviest smokers in the world, will be running out of places to light up in a few years as the government moves to adopt European Union guidelines protecting people from passive smoke.

The Health Ministry announced yesterday it will gradually ban smoking in public places, such as cafes and restaurants, by 2010.

The stricter measures, aimed at protecting smokers and non-smokers, have the backing of most Greeks.

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• Smoking after heart attack lifts risk of second  

Young people who continue to smoke after a heart attack are three times more likely to have future heart problems than survivors who kick the habit, Greek researchers said on Saturday.

People who are 35 or younger who keep smoking are far more prone to die from a heart-related event, have a repeat heart attack or need future treatments to clear blocked arteries compared to those who stopped smoking.

The study makes clear that smoking not only promotes a first heart attack, but poses heart risks in younger patients who have survived one, researchers said. The report was presented at the American College of Cardiology meeting in Chicago.

"Patients who have suffered a heart attack very early in life can significantly improve their long-term prognosis by quitting smoking," Dr. Loukianos Rallidis of the University General Hospital Attikon in Greece said in statement.

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• This coming Tuesday, don’t be an April fool, stop smoking 

This April 1, when according to custom we can make April fools of each other, is dedicated to spreading the message that smoking is harmful to one’s health and that these effects begin at an early age – even primary school children are now smoking. According to the Thorax Foundation, founded by Professor Haralambos Roussos, 90 percent of smokers took up the habit in their early teenage years or even in their childhood, so the problem is one of education, both at school and in the home environment. . . .

This Tuesday the foundation is holding an event at the Hotel Grande Bretagne to launch its campaign “Close to Children and Teenagers” and to honor its sponsors for health, education and research. The main aim of the program is to talk to young people in their own language, to get across the message that smoking is not in, but definitely out, that it is not an indication of manhood or sophistication. “Let’s talk to kids in their own language so that they will listen and understand the problem before it is too late,” said Roussos, who will be giving an address at the event. Afterward will follow a presentation of the CD-ROM “Cigarette? No Thanks!” by schoolgirl Theodora Francis and an address by children’s psychologist Katerina Laskaridou on an interdisciplinary center for the prevention of smoking as well as health education for children and teenagers.

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