93 smoking deaths in first 10 weeks

Joseph Farrugia, from Gudja, yesterday became the proud owner of a brand new Volkswagen Polo after managing to stop smoking for at least four weeks.

Yesterday, on World No Tobacco Day, he was handed the keys of the car, the top prize of the Quit and Win 2004 competition. Mr Farrugia will now compete in an international lottery for $2,500.

Two treadmills and a day trip to Sicily were won by another three people.

This year saw a "record number" of 1,035 people taking part in the competition, which is held every two years.

Addressing a news conference yesterday, Health Minister Louis Deguara said smoking was one of the most preventable causes of disease.

He said that although the number of adults who stopped smoking was on the increase, so was the number of young people taking up the habit. This, he said, was proof that campaigns were not reaching their final aim, and there was a need to start thinking about more effective ones.

The minister said that raising the cost of tobacco, as successive governments have been doing, only worked to dissuade people who were about to start smoking for the first time, and not those who already smoked.

With a total of 73,000 smokers over the age of 18, Malta saw a total of 1,787 deaths attributable to smoking between 1999 and 2003.

In the first two and a half months of this year, until March 15, there were 93 deaths attributable to smoking, 66 males and 27 females.

A study by the National Statistics Office showed that people with a low level of education smoke more than those with a higher level of education. The rate of smoking among people with a tertiary education stands at 29.1 per cent, whereas 49.9 per cent of uneducated people smoke.

The effects of smoking are not restricted only to diseases; smoking also has aesthetic implications. Speaking to The Times, Mario Spiteri, director of the Health Promotion Department, said one of the effects was thinning of the skin, and the development of crow's feet at the age of 30 instead of at the age of 50.

Dr Spiteri said cracking of the lips also took place in a heavy smoker, as well as the development of wrinkles around the lips.

Apart from this, heavy smokers get a greyish complexion because of tobacco's effect on circulation.

Questioned about the issue of the smoking ban in public places, Dr Deguara did not exclude that a total ban would come into force locally in some years' time. He said the trend in Europe was to go for a total ban, with Ireland pioneering the trend in Europe last March and Norway starting from today.

"The trend seems to be for a complete smoking ban to be in place in Europe within five to 10 years," he said.

The minister said reports from Ireland showed that the smoking ban had a positive impact despite fears that it would lead to lack of business at bars and restaurants. In fact, a decline in business was registered in the first few weeks, but there had since been a recovery, and even an increase in business.

Asked whether the government would give money to owners of entertainment establishments to help them install equipment to keep the air clean, Dr Deguara said no country did this.

Dr Deguara said the Malta Standards Authority's technical committee was in the process of establishing safe air levels. The final draft should be finalised in around two weeks.

"The government is determined to safeguard the health not only of the people who frequent places of entertainment, but also of the employees in these places," he said.

With regard to monitoring, Dr Deguara said establishment owners would have to provide a certificate that the quality of the air was in line with the established criteria, while the health division would conduct random checks.