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In all the schools in the country starts an anti smoking campaign under the initiative of the Harvard University, Greek universities and the Greek anti cancer organization.

Minister of health care Anna Diamantopoulou and Prof. Greg Connelly who is a professor in the Public healthcare department of the Harvard University and director of the program for scientific research related to control over the tobacco smoking, spoke about the ways in which students could be protected from lightning the first cigarette.

At the end of their conversation, the minister stated: “Smoking is undoubtedly an enemy. It destroys people’s lives, it kills people, it erodes the healthcare systems in many countries. It mostly affect the young people and the children.”

Mrs. Diamantopoulou underlined that an anti smoking campaign is starting in the schools, as it is just the time when the children aged between 13 – 15 years old could be kept from lightning the first cigarette.

As it became clear in the syllabus for the high school course of education there will be a course included related to the health education. There is also an idea of introducing a similar class in the last year of primary school. The teaching will be done by using modern means where the children will be watching movies for example.

Let us remind that in Greece there was introduced a low which banned the smoking in closed public places since June 1^st, 2009. All of the people who had the desire to follow the law and stubbed out their cigarettes are currently smoking again as once again the government turned out to be incapable of applying its own decrees.

Everywhere in the restaurants, taverns and bars throughout Greece nothing has changed, the ashtrays keep on existing on the tables and nobody cares for the existing law, as there is no control imposed. Even doctors smoke in their offices in the hospitals, as well as the employees in the public institutions who do not seem to care that there is a law which bans the smoking says the chairman of the National Coordination committee against smoking Panagiotis Behrakis.

Because of some unclear points in the measures, stipulated in the law, there was a hot line opened in the first days after its enacting, which literary overheated. However then came the summer and most of the owners took advantage of the trial period, which was granted to them with the intention that the control and the fining will start from the autumn.

And one after another, the Greeks never stopped smoking as the inspectors against tobacco smoking never showed up and the law remained a piece of paper and only the brochures remained to remind that once upon a time Greece voted a law against smoking.