By Hayley Prokos
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Nearly a decade ago, Greek lawmakers imposed a general ban on smoking in enclosed public places, though many say the country straggles behind others when it comes to kicking the cancer-causing habit.
On Friday—which was, uncoincidentally, World No Tobacco Day—the Hellenic Cancer Society (HCS) implored government officials to take greater measures to help smokers kick the cancer-causing habit, in a press release. It also stressed the importance of strictly enforcing the law that prohibits smoking at indoor public spaces as well as invoking a new law that bans it in outdoor areas where children may be present, like playgrounds, beaches, recreation centers and parks.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), tobacco kills more than 8 million people worldwide each year. Multiple reports in the last decade suggest that over 15,000 Greeks die from smoking-related causes each year.
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A 2017 survey by the European Commission revealed that Greece had the highest smoking rate—an estimated 37 percent—in all of Europe. The survey also showed a range of smoking rates among countries in the EU, which bore an overall smoking rate of 26 percent. That's 12 percent more than the total smoking population of the United States, which is 14 percent, according to CDC data, also from 2017.
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Yet, even in 2019, Greeks, who make up a current population of just over 11 million and a purported smoking population of over 4 million, can't seem to put the cigarettes away. Earlier this week, Rick Pitino, the coach of the Panathinaikos B.C. of the EuroLeague, criticized fans of the Greek club for smoking during the games.
"I smoke cigars on a golf course, but there's nobody else around. But you're in an area, and 10,000 are smoking and the players are choking. So, sooner or later, you've got to say: 'Hey, man, we're at an athletic event and I'm going to discipline myself and we'll wait until halftime. And I'm going to go out and blow my brains out with cigarettes,'" Pitino said, according to ESPN and NBC Sports. "But not when there are athletes and there are little kids who want to come to the game."
Pitino, 66, took over at Panathinaikos in late 2018 after leaving the University of Louisville.
HCS's press release, written in Greek and translated by Newsweek said: "Each year, [lung] cancer kills a population equal to the inhabitants of an island, like Ikaria or Leros. If we don't take into account other types of cancer and illnesses caused by smoking, in a few years the number of deaths would wipe out so many of our fellow citizens as the population of the Cyclades."
There are, however, grassroots actions taking place in corners of the country. Greek daily newspaper Kathimerini reported in January that Trikala, a northwestern city in Greece, was smoke-free. Just this week, the western Cycladic island of Serifos said that it will make one of its beaches smoke-free, effective this summer. The beach will reportedly be the first smoke-free one in the country.
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