ken dixon

By TRACEY EATON

The Dallas Morning News

HAVANA - Cuban health officials are trying to persuade at least 200,000
people to quit smoking in May as part of a stepped-up campaign against
cigarettes. But it's a daunting task in a nation that has had a steamy
love affair with tobacco for more than five centuries.

Tobacco companies in Cuba sell cigarettes for as little as eight cents a
pack, cheaper than anywhere else in the world. And as cigarettes have
become more affordable over the last decade, the number of young smokers
has climbed, surveys show.

Alarmed, health officials are promoting new no-smoking zones and
increasing tobacco education in the schools.

''We are carrying out a campaign against smoking. We are against
smoking,'' said Dr. Jose Miguel Miyar, secretary of the Council of
State, Cuba's top governing body.

Health officials have been encouraging Cubans to sign up for the global
''Quit & Win'' competition, which runs through Saturday, in which adults
who have smoked for at least one year will try to abstain from smoking.
The National Public Health Institute in Finland has coordinated the
biennial event since 1994. Nearly 700,000 people took part in 2002. This
year, as many as 1 million participants are expected from more than 100
nations.

IRRATIONAL TO SOME

Some critics question whether Cuba's antismoking crusade can be
successful. Telling people not to smoke and then selling them dirt-cheap
cigarettes is irrational, they argue. ''It's schizophrenic,'' said Pedro
de la Hoz, a Cuban journalist who writes about culture and music. What's
more, he said, many people ignore the government's antismoking messages.

``Technically, you're not allowed to smoke on buses, for example. But a
lot of the bus drivers smoke. That makes it hard for them to tell
passengers they can't.''

An estimated 3.25 million Cubans -- nearly a third of the population --
smoke cigarettes. About 6,000 of them die from smoking-related illnesses
every year, health officials say.

And Cubans continue to light up, smoking a staggering 11 billion
cigarettes a year, according to CubaNews, a Maryland-based newsletter.

Havana vendor Isabel Miranda, 50, prefers a Cuban brand called Aromas
Rubios, or Blonde Aromas.

Under a government rationing program that began in the 1960s, she is
allowed to buy one pack a month at a subsidized price -- 2.5 Cuban pesos
or about 10 cents. Any additional cigarettes cost 7.6 pesos or about 29
cents a pack.

YOUTH SMOKERS

Cuban health officials take part in the Global Youth Tobacco Survey,
which was developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in
Atlanta and the World Health Organization.

In 2001, that survey showed that nearly 30 percent of Cuban students in
grades seven through nine had tried smoking. And 88 percent said they
bought cigarettes freely despite their age.

By law, Cubans aren't allowed to buy cigarettes unless they are at least
16. But many store clerks overlook that, and enforcement is light,
****age smokers say.

''I buy cigarettes all the time. I've never had a problem,'' said Yodel,
15, a Havana boy who declined to give his last name.

GETTING HOOKED

More and more young people -- especially females -- are drawn to
smoking, health officials say.

In 1990, 6.6 percent of students were regular smokers, a Cuban
government study said.

By 2001, that number had nearly doubled to 13 percent.

''Today you see kids smoking right out in the open outside their
schools,'' he said. ``In my day, I didn't dare smoke at school.''

By Cuban law, cigarettes must carry warning labels saying smoking is a
health hazard.

Cuba also bans cigarette ads in the media and outdoors. But many
restaurants and bars display signs, ashtrays, plastic tables and trash
cans emblazoned with cigarette brand names.

Smoking in offices, meeting halls, theaters, taxis and other public
places has been officially banned for years, although many people flout
the law.

Undeterred, health officials are trying to expand the no-smoking zones,
asking Cubans not to puff cigarettes at factories, schools or even at
home if nonsmokers are around.

In 2000 and 2002, Cuban health officials claimed the highest number of
successful quitters per capita in the Americas with 33,808 and 155,188,
respectively.

Their goal this year is 200,000.

miss elaine eos

This just in from our "big numbers are fun" desk:

3,250,000 cubans smoke 11,000,000,000 cigarettes/year[1].

That's 3385 cigarettes/smoker/yr or
Just over 9 cigarettes/smoker/day or
3,250,000 half-a-pack-a-day smokers, on average.

6,000 of them die each year from smoking-related illnesses.

Over the course of 100 years, 600,000 out of 3,250,000 half-a-pack-a-day
smokers will die from their habit.

That's ONE HUNDRED YEARS! And even then, it's STILL only 18%.

We now conclude, from this data, that if you smoke half a pack of Cuban
cigarettes a day, starting at birth, there is a 1-in-5 chance that you
will DIE EARLY AT ONE HUNDRED YEARS OLD! The other 4 out of 5 smokers
will live longer, or not be affected by their smoke.

Sort-a scary, when you think about it...

---

Another way to look at the data:

Let's just assume that, since Cuba has been tobacco-happy for 500+
years, all these 3,250,000 half-a-pack-a-day smokers have been smoking
for a long time -- i.e., they didn't just start yesterday. So the cycle
is pretty much "underway."

3.25M smokers out of ~10M Cubans. Let's say the average life-span is
100 yrs (Just to make the math easy. If you insist that it's only 75 or
80, the numbers only get worse for nannies, so give me this one, I'm
being generous.)

Over the course of 100 yrs, we expect 10M Cubans to die, or about
100,000/yr, just because they're old and people don't live forever.
That's about 1%/year.

Out of 3,250,000 smokers, 6,000 of them die from smoking each year, or
about 0.18% The other 99.82% of smokers die of old-age.

I wonder if anyone will gather all of this data into a study and publish
it for the EPA or WHO. They're rather impressive numbers, if you ask
me...

---
[1] All numbers taken from an anti-smoking article. They may be
exaggerated, but we decided to give the authors the benefit of the doubt.

--
Please take off your shoes before arriving at my in-box.
Lots of good cigar info, the ASC Birthday page, FAQs, vendors and more at
<http://www.ManyFriends.com/Cigars/>

krm

Projecting current stats out over 100 years might be "fun", but it's
pretty dumb statistically.

And "only 18%" seems like a small number to you?

KRM
aka Stogie

miss elaine eos

"Only 18%" will die after 100 years? Yes, that seems like a small
number to me.

--
Please take off your shoes before arriving at my in-box.
Lots of good cigar info, the ASC Birthday page, FAQs, vendors and more at
<http://www.ManyFriends.com/Cigars/>

krm

Ah.... you've included the "after 100 years" BS. Meaningless babble,
but that's your specialty, right? <g>

KRM
aka Stogie

dale \(in dc\)

http://tinyurl.com/23ef3

timl

In article <NS6sc.53662$hH.1004655@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net>,
dlorrDIESPAMMERS!@att.net stated...

Finding more uses for those I see...LMAO!
--
TimL

dale \(in dc\)

Found another cache of 'em, too. Watch this space... ;-)

btorvik2

You talk about powerful anti-smoking groups.

They even got Fidel to quit smokers cigars to set a good example for the
children.

bernie
"official ASC Shaman"

btorvik2

If I'm in the other 82%, it does.

bernie
"official ASC Shaman"