May 31 - World No Tobacco Day

Every year on May 31, World No Smoking Day is celebrated at the initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO).

The initiative is held around the world, highlighting the health risks associated with tobacco use and calling for effective policies to reduce consumption levels.

The World Health Organization has been celebrating World No Tobacco Day since 1988. In 2016, the motto of World Tobacco Day was "Standardized packaging - let's be ready for it". Studies on the health effects of "regular" or standardized cigarette packs show that they can deter non-smokers from gaining the habit and can reduce the number of cigarettes consumed by smokers.

Smoking is one of the main risk factors for a number of socially significant diseases such as cardiovascular, oncological, lung. According to the World Health Organization, smoking kills about 6 million people each year. More than 5 million of these victims are the result of the direct use of cigarettes, and the rest - the so-called "passive smoking". The reason for the high health risk posed by cigarettes is the fact that they contain over 4,000 chemicals. Of these, at least 250 have been identified as dangerous and 50 as carcinogenic.

For these reasons, the World Health Organization and the European Commission are pursuing policies to reduce bad habits in all countries. In line with these ideas, in 2012 Bulgaria introduced a ban on smoking in public places. The WHO has called on all parties to consider even tougher measures to combat smoking. These include limiting smoking scenes in teen movies, introducing anti-ads for the habit before screening, and more.

For almost 18% of all deaths in Bulgaria, smoking is one of the main causes, and for the European Union...