27 May 2009
Tehran -- Some 17,400 billion rials are spent annually by Iranians on buying cigarettes. Announcing this, head of Tobacco Control Headquarters, Mostafa Ghaffari said at a news conference Tuesday that each year some 52,200 billion rials are spent for treating smoking-related diseases.
Some 50,000 Iranians die of these diseases and unless this is brought under control, the figure will reach 200,000, he warned.
Referring to successful efforts of the headquarters in the field, Ghaffari said that one of the fruitful measures was pricing and levying tax on tobacco.
Printing warning pictures on the packages of the cigarettes was another successful measure in the field, which led to a decline in demand by ten percent, he noted.
Ghaffari was awarded Tobacco-Free World Award by World Health Organization (WHO) this year.
Tehran -- Some 17,400 billion rials are spent annually by Iranians on buying cigarettes. Announcing this, head of Tobacco Control Headquarters, Mostafa Ghaffari said at a news conference Tuesday that each year some 52,200 billion rials are spent for treating smoking-related diseases.
Some 50,000 Iranians die of these diseases and unless this is brought under control, the figure will reach 200,000, he warned.
Referring to successful efforts of the headquarters in the field, Ghaffari said that one of the fruitful measures was pricing and levying tax on tobacco.
Printing warning pictures on the packages of the cigarettes was another successful measure in the field, which led to a decline in demand by ten percent, he noted.
Ghaffari was awarded Tobacco-Free World Award by World Health Organization (WHO) this year.
© IRNA 2009
