TALLINN - The usual Friday-night fog of cigarette smoke in Estonian pubs may become a thing of the past if the government-approved bill - the Law on Tobacco - is passed by Parliament.
Pursuant to government plans, the new law, which would go into force by May 1 of this year, will both ban smoking in public places and also set new requirements for tobacco product package and advertising.
Government officials said that the goal of the law was to provide the population with proper health protection measures. The EU-style "smoking kills" sticker, which takes up half the space on cigarette packages, is part of the bill and is there to better inform people about the health risks, officials said.
Other innovations in the bill will aim to restrict sales and promotion of tobacco.
According to the Ministry of Social Affairs, there are about 350,000 people who smoke on a daily basis, or about 30 percent of the adult population. About 2,000 Estonian people die annually of diseases caused by smoking, and smoking is the cause of about 90 percent of lung cancer cases, 80 percent of chronic lung disease cases and 40 percent of heart and cardiovascular disease-related cases.
Estonia tightened its smoking regulations in January 2001 when pubs and other public eateries were obliged to have a section for nonsmokers and a proper ventilation system. Smoking in public places such as territories and buildings of schools, hospitals and others was banned outright. Office buildings were also obliged to have a special room for smokers.
Under the new bill, even the special rooms for smokers in schools, hospitals and food processing facilities left by the 2001 act will be closed.
Concerns about the health of the nation were stimulated this week when the daily Postimees reported that Estonia occupies the first place in the list of European countries with highest mortality caused by heart diseases.
If the new law on tobacco is accepted by Parliament, Estonia will become the second country in the world to fully ban smoking in public places.
Ireland was the first country to do so when its ban went into effect last month.
For Estonia the issue of smoking and smoking-related deaths is particularly acute given the country's population decline.
