Anti-Smoking Law Comes Into Effect In Chain-Smoking Hungary (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

Anti-Smoking Law Comes Into Effect In Chain-Smoking Hungary Source:
Central Europe Online, Monday, 11/1/99 BUDAPEST, Nov 1, 1999 -- (Agence
France Presse) Hungary, the world's third heaviest smoking country, banned
smoking in public buildings and set up smoking sections in restaurants and
bars under a new law that went into effect Monday.

Under the measure, Hungarians under 18 are prohibited from buying
cigarettes and tobacco sales are banned altogether from schools and health
and social care institutions.

But skeptics said it will be very hard to implement the law in Hungary,
which ranks third on the world list of smokers after Russia and Poland,
with an annual 2,565 cigarettes smoked per head against a world average of
924.

"Forty-four percent of adult men and 27 percent of adult women are regular
smokers, and an alarming 22 percent of elementary school pupils have
already tasted tobacco," said Laszlo Domoszlai of the National
Tobacco-free Association.

>From Monday, smokers will have to pay a fine of up to Ft 30,000 (117
euros, $124) if they break the law, while employers and restaurant owners
will pay more than triple if they fail to provide separate areas for
smokers and non-smokers.

Smoking on trains will only be allowed in designated compartments but only
when the train covers a distance of more than 62 miles (100 kilometers).

Tobacco factories have launched a campaign against cigarette sales to
underage buyers who make up between one to two percent of their consumers,
Peter David of the Hungarian Tobacco Federation said.

Philip Morris, Reemtsma, British American Tobacco and V. Tabac will send
out stickers to 25,000 sales outlets to warn people not to send their
children to buy tobacco, he said.

"The income of the tobacco industry from sales to people under 18 has so
far come up to some Ft 400 million (1.55 million euros) a year. But the
industry targets adults and would rather lose the income from sales to
underage people," he told MTI news agency.

The law is coupled with a price rise from a new tax slapped on by the
government, the Hungarian Tobacco Association Andras Patai said.

The state's tax revenues from tobacco sales are expected to total about Ft
125 billion (more than 486 million euros) this year, he said. ((c) 1999
Agence France Presse)