SMOKING CONTROL PROGRAMMES-EXPERIENCE IN SOME OTHER COUNTRIES

외국의 금연운동

A few years ago a WHO Expert Committee stated: 'Smoking related diseases are such important causes of disability and premature death in developed countries that the control of cigarette smoking could do more to improve health and prolong life in these countries than any other single action in the whole field of preventive medicine.' (WHO TRS 568/1975) Indeed, so serious have been the consequences of smiting in the developed countries of North America and Europe that they could not be ignored. Let us look at the action taken in some of these countries. We may then be able to draw up some guidelines for the formulation of a national anti-smoking policy-guidelines applicable both to countries which already are experiencing the dreadful consequances of long-established and wide-spread smoking habits, and applicable also to countries where the 'smoking epidemic' is only noly beginning to bring its burden of disability and early death.