Smoking in public places, at the workplace and in public transportation could be banned in Bulgaria effective June 1 2010, if approved by Parliament. During a seminar on smoking held on September 29 at Rila Hotel in Sofia, the Health Ministry presented a revised draft of the Health Act that envisioned implementation of the ban. The Government is expected to discuss the bill by the end of October, Bulgarian news agency BTA reported.

The seminar was held as part of the National Programme for Limiting Tobacco Smoking in Bulgaria, and was attended by journalists, ministry officials, and representatives of NGOs, branch associations and trade unions. It was entitled The Role of Media in Limiting Tobacco Smoking and the Implementation of a Full Ban on Smoking in Common Areas and the Workplace in Bulgaria. Special guest speaker was the German specialist on cancer research Dr Martina Langer.

Close to 45 per cent of Bulgarians smoke. From 1986 until 2007, female smokers have increased by more than 20 per cent, data from a National Centre of Public Health Protection survey conducted end-2007 indicated.

Smoking is spreading rapidly among teenagers and about 30 per cent of them smoke regularly, have smoked in the past or have tried smoking. Dr Masha Gavrilova from the Health Ministry, one of the participants at the seminar, was quoted by Focus news agency as saying that there were children who began smoking as young as seven or eight years of age, especially in Roma communities. Gavrilova said the ministry was aiming at implementing educational activities in primary and secondary schools around the country.

In comparison with other European countries, where there are various initiatives underway to curtail smoking, in Bulgaria there is still no such national health strategy. Considering the percentage of smokers, the country falls somewhere in the middle of other countries in Europe. Gavrilova said to the Focus agency that smoking in public places in Bulgaria should be banned, just like was done in recent years in Ireland, France, the Scandinavian countries and Malta.

There are 25 known smoking-related illnesses, the most dangerous of them being lung cancer. Gavrilova said that treating physicians should encourage people to quit smoking.

"I constantly try to explain that smoking is a hazardous health factor that could be prevented. There is no need to shorten our lives, to fall ill or to handicap ourselves by something we could go without," she said.