Smoking in Russia reported at epidemic levels (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

Date: Friday, 5/28/99

MOSCOW - AP World News via NewsEdge Corporation : Cigarette smoking in
Russia has reached epidemic proportions, health officials said Thursday

According to statistics released at a Health Ministry round table
discussion, 74 percent of men aged 30 to 35 are smokers, the Interfax news
agency reported.

Fourteen percent of women in the same age bracket smoke, the report said.

Among younger people, fewer men smoked, but the percentages for women were
considerably higher, reports cited at the discussion showed.

Russians have one of the world's highest rates of smoking, one reason why
they also have one of the world's highest mortality rates, with the
average man dying before his 60th birthday.
        
        [Copyright 1999, Associated Press]