NGO urges people to throw cigarettes

About 10,000 empty packets of cigarettes formed a pile at the first floor of a shopping mall in Chisinau. The drive staged on the occasion of the World No Tobacco Day was aimed at warning the visitors about the dangers posed by smoking and at making them throw their cigarettes, Info-Prim Neo reports. Ion Salaru, vice director of the National Public Health Center, told a news conference that the number of packets in the pile is equal to the number of packs smoked by a person throughout life. He stated that about 3,000 persons die yearly in Moldova from smoking-related diseases. At global level, this figure is 5 million people. Every fifth person killed is a passive smoker. Vitalie Jacota, a member of the NGO Model Art that organized the event, said he expected that the smokers will throw more packs of cigarettes, but they turned out to be indifferent. He also said that Model Art is launching a project titled “I and 20 Friends of Mine”, which is also aimed at informing the people about the dangers and consequences of smoking. There will be staged a play about seven persons from different social environments, who were affected by smoking – smokers, non-smokers and cigarette producers. The play will be directed by Vitalie Jacota. The production crew also includes Nicu Tarna, Victor Nofit, Violeta Birlici, Adrian Suruceanu, Tatiana Manoil, and Dorina Tataru. The play will be premiered in autumn. A national tour will follow next. According to the Ministry of Health, tobacco is the cause of each tenth death among adults and reduces the smokers’ life by about 15 years on average. About 100 million people died from smoking-related diseases in the 20th century. The World No Tobacco Day is marked on May 31.