"It is a well-known fact that in our Catholic and Croatian culture, at the beginning of Lent, many people give up many of their habits, so we hope that today there will be many who will give up smoking and remain firm in it and continue not to smoke forever," director of the Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ) Krunoslav Capak said at a round table debate on the occasion of the Croatian No Smoking Day.
About 22 pct of Croatian population smokes
He added that according to the HZJZ research on self-assessment of health, about 22 percent of the population in Croatia smokes, but that percentage is probably higher.
"It is especially worrying that our young people start smoking earlier and earlier, and smoking is one of the key critical factors for the diseases that burden our health the most today - cardiovascular diseases and cancers," he warned.
Capak also stated that tobacco not only has a harmful effect on human health, but also on the environment.
Danica Kramarić, on behalf of the Ministry of Health, said that every 10 seconds in the world someone dies as a result of smoking, and that the fatal consequences of smoking in Europe exceed traffic accidents, alcohol, fires, murders and suicides, and AIDS all together.
So in Europe, more than 50 percent of men between the ages of 20 and 60, 20 percent of women and 30 to 40 percent of young people smoke, and according to research, even 60 percent of children up to the age of 15 have tried smoking at least once, Kramarić pointed out, warning that smoking is a serious public health problem.