MS 10.30-12.00 Main sessions

TOBACCO AND HEALTH IN THE EASTERN EUROPEAN POPULATIONS

In the new democracies in Central Europe which were controlled by the Soviet Union from the end of World War II until 1990, health is one of the major civilisational challenges in the return to Europe. A demographic catastrophe has been taking place in this part of Europe. Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries have witnessed a rise in the premature mortality of middle-aged men (35-59) that has not been recorded in any other part of the world (Murray, Lopez 1994). The epidemic of chronic diseases that has been spreading since the mid-1960s is mostly due to lack of access to and understanding of the achievements of the medical sciences, political control of the development of epidemiology, concealment of statistical data, unavailability of modern technology, lack of communication (mass media) between the scientific community and politicians and the public.

Central European countries have become a great battlefield where two opinions are fighting each other. One - of those promoting health in the countries of the new democracy, where the health status of men is comparable to that of India; and the other - of those representing the international tobacco industry, unscrupulously employing sophisticated technologies of promoting and advertising tobacco, and taking every action to keep tobacco consumption on the same high level.

Smoke Free Europe Conference Abstracts - 19 SEP 1996

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