site.btaInstitutions, Citizens Sign Joint Memorandum against Tobacco Industry Advertising

108 HEALTHCARE - TOBACCO PRODUCTS - ADVERTISING - MEMORANDUM

Institutions, Citizens Sign
Joint Memorandum against
Tobacco Industry Advertising

September 9 (BTA) - The non-governmental Smoke Free Life Coalition, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF offices in Bulgaria, the Smoke Free Bulgaria Association, the BlueLink Foundation, PR Care company and the Patient Portal (www.portalnapacienta.bg) Monday signed a joint Memorandum on ending the advertising and promotion of tobacco products and sponsorship by the tobacco industry in this country and implementation of the guidelines Article 13 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The Memorandum, which was signed at the BTA National Press Club, was a result of a Strategic Working Meeting on Tobacco Companies' Sponsorship, organized in Sofia on May 21, 2019 by the WHO, the Health Ministry and the Smoke Free Life Coalition.

A survey conducted by the US Johns Hopkins research university in 2017 found that tobacco products were retailed within 250 m from some 96 per cent of schools in the capital city and that 25 per cent of 16-year-olds in Bulgaria were regular smokers. Any form of tobacco product advertising which young people identify increases their chance of starting to smoke by 7 per cent. IG/LG

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