Estonian smoke out

Jun 02, 2008
In cooperation with BNS

TALLINN- In her remarks released on the occasion of the World No Tobacco Day, Estonia's Social Affairs Minister Maret Maripuu underlined the importance of quitting smoking and called on residents to break the habit.

The minister noted that a couple of years ago Estonia made a very important decision for the sake of the health of all residents, banning smoking in catering establishments.

"I believe that many of us met the decision with a feeling of relief, as tobacco smoke will no longer spoil our enjoyment of food, our clothes will no longer smell of cigarettes after a visit to a restaurant and it's safer to go out to eat with a child," she said.
Maripuu said that according to a recent survey both the employees at the establishments as well as customers, are satisfied with the restrictions on smoking.

The pollster TNS Emor found in a survey commissioned by an importer of stop smoking aides, that 60 percent of smokers in Estonia are men from Tallinn or the northeastern Ida-Viru county who in most cases have secondary education and earn less than 3,500 kroons per household member per month.

It also appears from the survey that among ethnic Estonians smokers make up 25 percent, with one in five women and 36 percent of men smoking. Among Russian-speakers smokers make up 35 percent.

In a breakdown by age group, 26 percent of smokers are aged 18-29, 25 percent are aged 40-49, 20 percent are aged 30-39 and 19 percent are aged 50-59.
Smoking in Estonian casinos to end from Sunday

The gaming premises in casinos run by the Estonian gaming operator association EHKL will become smoke-free starting from Sunday.

"Even though the law allows smoking in casinos under certain conditions, members of EHKL decided to put an end to it from June 1," the manager of EHKL, Tonis Ruutel, said on Saturday.

He said that during the time that has passed since the decision was made all companies had the possibility to make necessary adjustments and set up special rooms for smoking where necessary.

Ruutel added that the decision to ban smoking was the second decision requiring big investments by casino operators in the past year.

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