Almost a third of the population of Montenegro uses tobacco products, it was announced yesterday at the Montenegrin conference on smoking control, which this year is dedicated to protecting children from the tobacco industry.
"Every step towards the consumption of tobacco products can lead to serious addiction diseases and consequences that unfortunately often lead to serious illnesses and even death," said the director of the Clinical Center of Montenegro (KCCG), Aleksandar Radović.
The conference was organized by the Montenegrin Society for the Fight Against Cancer (CDPR) in cooperation with KCCG, the Institute for Children's Diseases and the Ministry of Health of Montenegro.
"Our key goal is to send a strong message from the Institute for Children's Diseases to the public about the dangers that threaten the use of tobacco products, which apparently start as naive mischief," said Radović.
He pointed out that children should not be in hospitals because of problems that we as a society can prevent.
"Tobacco consumption is one of those problems, so in addition to classic cigarettes, children today face challenges in the form of electronic cigarettes, snus and other tobacco products that are unfortunately becoming easily available and attractive to our children," said the director of KCCG.
Radović drew special attention to the concept of passive smoking.
"Children who are surrounded by people who consume tobacco are equally at risk as the consumers themselves," said Radović.
He also said that it is important to adapt the message sent to children to the times in which we live.
"Kids today won't look for information in medical publications or watch the evening news, but they will spend some time on platforms like Tik Tok, Instagram and other digital channels. If we manage to present them with all the dangers of tobacco consumption through those channels, we have a chance to dissuade them from making bad choices," said Radović.
Director General of the Directorate for Health Care Quality Control and Human Resources Improvement, Irena Šubarić, said that according to the World Health Organization (WHO), smoking is the main cause of lung diseases in all 27 EU member states.
She said that children are often exposed to passive smoking, and that they are more prone to infections, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
See more:
Download the app and follow the news
FOLLOW US ON
