Under the patronage of Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, the Emir of Makkah, the Anti-smoking Charitable Association launched its third national anti-smoking campaign. The association aims to apply an international anti-smoking agreement that has been signed by Saudi Arabia, along with many other countries, in order to fight smoking in the Kingdom. Abdullah Hasan Al-Sarouji, the association's executive manager, said the Kingdom had participated in the agreement after the authorities realized the serious danger of tobacco on the health of individuals. “We will apply the agreement's articles through our awareness campaign, which includes (demands for) raising taxes on tobacco and banning the sale of tobacco products in many places,” said Sarouji. According to the agreement, individuals would have the right to ask smokers to stop smoking in public and work places, said Sarouji. He added that according to the agreement, all kinds of advertising or promotion for tobacco products would disappear, since the agreement obligates all signatories to ban promoting tobacco products and to order tobacco companies to have warning messages cover at least 30 percent of the total area of a cigarette pack. “Misleading words on many cigarette packs, such as ‘light' or ‘mild,' shouldn't be there, according to the agreement, because these words fool consumers into underestimating the serious effects of tobacco,” Sarouji said. The agreement also obligates governments to protect nonsmokers from being exposed to cigarette smoke in public places, and insists that the signatories issue strict regulations regarding the contents of tobacco products. “Through this agreement, we hope all countries would cooperate to resist the illegal importing of tobacco and to raise taxes on tobacco products,” said Sarouji. The agreement also includes supporting scientific research related to combating smoking. Sarouji said that the anti-smoking program of the Saudi Ministry of Health has already begun distributing copies of the agreement among many establishments and associations. __
