MPS DIVIDE THEMSELVES ON SMOKERS AND NON-SMOKERS

( Editorial: --> 6787 ) ZAGREB, Oct 8 (Hina) - The Croatian National Sabor's (Parliament) House of Representatives on Thursday finished a heated debate on the bill on regulating the use of tobacco products. This time, the MPs were not divided by their political affiliation but by their smoking orientation. The representatives-smokers stressed that smoking should be looked at within a broader, and not only a medical-internist framework. The MPs-non-smokers presented data on the hazards of smoking. Health Minister Zeljko Reiner corroborated the bill with information that three million people in the world die annually from smoking, the death toll in Croatia being 10,000. Passive smoking is just as damaging, Reiner said stressing that 15 per cent of Croatian youthes under the age of 13 are smokers. The bill should promote non-smoking and meet the criteria of the World Health Organisation - to decrease nicotine and tar percentages in cigarettes; to carry smoking warnings on cigarette packages; to prohibit tobacco selling for persons under the age of 18; to restrict smoking in certain public places and institutions; and provide smoking and non-smoking zones in all other public places. These criteria should be met by the year 2001. (hina) it jn/rml 081643 MET oct 98