Source: Beirut Daily Star (lb)
Date: 2010-06-05
Author: Dalila Mahdawi Daily Star Staff

Marking its 10-year anniversary, local non-governmental
organization the Tobacco Free Initiative (TFI) reiterated the
need for a comprehensive ban on smoking in public places.

Speaking at an event on Thursday evening hosted by the Swiss
Embassy in Beirut, tobacco control campaigners warned that
Lebanon\'s smoking affinity was spiraling out of control, with 30
people dying each month as a result of tobacco exposure.

"We are calling for a 100 percent ban on smoking in public," said
Rania Baroud, a former presenter with Future Television, and the
vice-president of TFI.

She dismissed suggestions to introduce non-smoking areas in bars
and restaurants, saying that only a comprehensive ban would
protect consumers from the dangers of passive smoking.

Lebanon signed the World Health Organization\'s Framework
Convention on Tobacco Control in 2005, and although it was
ratified automatically, very little has been done to enforce it.
So little has been done, in fact, that Lebanon risks failing to
meet the convention\'s obligations.

It has already missed the deadline for Article 11 . . .

"Lebanon is the only country in the Middle East that still allows
tobacco advertising and sponsorship," Baroud said. She called for
the introduction of pictorial warnings on the front and back of
all tobacco products.