Ubeyd Korbey, chairman of Turkey’s Anti-Smoking Association, said that cigarettes, believed to be one of the worst addictions in the world, takes millions of victims every year, both smokers and non-smokers.

Noting that 11,000 out of 114,000 victims of smoking in Turkey last year were the victims of secondhand smoke, Korbey said: “I mean these people didn’t smoke, but they died of cancer and similar diseases caused by smoking. The most painful fact is that 1,600 of them were babies and children who didn’t even know what cigarettes are.”

Korbay stressed that the number of people in Turkey who died from the aftereffects of smoke in the year 2006 rose by 2,000 over 2005. He said 23 million people smoke and that 3 million of them are under the age of 18. “It means that in the following years the number of those dying from secondhand smoke will again exceed 100,000. I suggest that smokers stay away from cigarettes so they can see their grandchildren and have a healthy life when they grow old,” he said, reported the Anatolia news agency.

(Zaman)

Is this a joke? Welcome to the 1970s, Turkey! Yes, cigarette smoke is dangerous.