Thursday, Feb 04, 2010
Gulf News
Cairo Khalid Salah, 35, remembers the first day he picked the habit more than 20 years ago. "It started as a challenge from my friends, who said that smoking makes one look like a real man," Salah, a taxi driver in Cairo, recalls. "I believed them, and have been a smoker of around two packets of cigarettes a day ever since."
He said that as a taxi driver, he spends most of his smoking hours while doing his job. "I cannot quit smoking especially as I drive my taxi on traffic-clogged streets. Smoking helps me keep concentrated and calm while haggling with clients over fares," he told Gulf News. "Sometimes, clients refuse to continue their journeys with me when they see me smoking."
The habit costs Salah, a father of three, around 300 Egyptian pounds (Dh200) every month. According to a recent survey released by the World Health Organisation (WHO), an average Egyptian family spends six per cent of their monthly income on tobacco — perhaps more than on education and health.
Experts estimate that smoking in Egypt costs around 8 million pounds annually as around 85 billion cigarettes are smoked per year. Salah is one of nearly 13 million Egyptian smokers, who have been the target of a high-profile anti-smoking campaign launched over recent years.
More than two years ago, the health authorities made it obligatory for tobacco manufacturers to print an image of a sickly man living on an artificial ventilation machine, on packets of cigarettes.
But soon, the warning image became a funny public issue as the man in the picture sued the authorities for "tampering" with his features without his consent.
Last month, another controversy erupted when a new illustration was printed on tobacco products linking smoking to male impotency.
The image was considered offensive in this conservative society, and the health authorities were taken to court again.
Around 439,000 children in Egypt under the age of 15 smoke, according to the Ministry of Health. Some 74,000 of them are less than 10 years of age.
Meanwhile, WHO blames smoking for around 90 per cent of cancer cases in Egypt, a country of 80 million. Many sufferers of heart disease in the country are smokers too, said WHO.
Not eligible
In June 2007, Egypt passed a law banning smoking at work places and at health centres, schools and social clubs. A ban on underage smokers was also issued. But neither is strictly enforced.
"Egypt is still one of the cheapest countries when it comes to tobacco purchases," Mushira Khattab, Egypt's Minister of Family and Planning said. "Prices of cigarettes are available and affordable at shops and kiosks even for children," she added. Health professionals, meanwhile, blame the spread of smoking culture in Egypt on movies and wrong perceptions.
"When an actor puffs on the screen, the message received by millions of the audience is that smoking is fine," Mahmoud Chaker, a pulmonary disease specialist said. "Popular celebrities, who smoke, also help glamorise this habit for youngsters in particular."
Dr Chaker urges authorities to strictly ban smoking in movies and TV dramas.
"The tobacco industry has popularised a misleading image of smoking as being cool, attractive and rebellious. Many young people, including girls recently, start smoking with the aim of projecting a certain social image.
See also Page 3
disturbing facts
439,000
children under the age of 15 smoke
20%
proportion of adults over 15 who smoke
70%
are subjected to passive smoking at home/work
By Ramadan Al Sherbini
Gulf News 2010. All rights reserved.
