"According to all statistics, Bulgaria remains in first place in the EU in the use of tobacco products. For several years we have been leading the first place".
This is what Dr. Gergana Geshanova from the Coalition for a Smoke-Free Life, which today organized a meeting-discussion in Sofia under the title "Will we protect our children from tobacco aggression," told BNR.
She emphasized that this is associated with higher rates of morbidity, higher mortality and many other bad indicators.
"Just by walking down the streets of any larger city, you will see what is going on around the doors of the schools - these clusters of young people talking happily and at the same time using some form of tobacco or nicotine product. Even more startling is that more girls smoke than boys. This is what is visible. Research proves that this is indeed the case".
Dr. Geshanova cites data from a UN study on the health habits of school-aged children:
"Our 11-year-old children are in first place among those surveyed with over 15-18% for having used some tobacco product during their life. The average figure for this age is about 1-2% for other countries, and we are 15-18".
She also cited another study by the Plovdiv Medical University, according to which 2% of 9-year-olds smoke regular cigarettes and 3% smoke vapes. Over 77% of children mention that their parents, at least one of them, use tobacco products. According to her, this means that our health culture and healthy habits are wrong. According to her, however, the state is also missing here:
"Something is lame with us. We are making some efforts, but they seem to be in quotes. We are not doing enough as parents to overcome our biases, nor are we doing enough as a country to make it clear to both parents and children, and to have some normal legal framework to guide people on the right path.
According to her, it is an illusion that the new products are more harmless for our children. According to her, the brain suffers the most from taking these chemicals.
The specialist noted the ban on smoking in closed public places, but also the issue of controlling it. She emphasized that only a handful of people - inspectors from the regional health inspectorates - perform this control. According to her, this is physically impossible.
Dr. Geshanova also pointed out that Bulgaria is one of the few countries where outdoor advertising of tobacco products still exists. In no other country can you see billboards and entire walls of buildings with advertisements for tobacco and nicotine products.