Estonian smoke out

TALLINN- In her remarks released on the occasion of theWorld No Tobacco Day, Estonia'sSocial Affairs Minister Maret Maripuu underlined the importance of quittingsmoking 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 afeeling 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 restaurantand 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 theestablishments as well as customers, are satisfied with the restrictions onsmoking.

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

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

In a breakdown by age group, 26 percent of smokers are aged18-29, 25 percent are aged 40-49, 20 percent are aged 30-39 and 19 percent areaged 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 undercertain conditions, members of EHKL decided to put an end to it from June1," the manager of EHKL, Tonis Ruutel, said on Saturday.

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

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