Starting from July 1st, 2008, the cigarette packs sold in Romania have to carry pictures on them depicting the consequences of smoking: premature death, lung cancer, premature ageing and impotence. Other pictures tell us that children should not be exposed to cigarette smoke and their mothers should not smoke during pregnancies.

Romania is the second country in European Union to insist on pictorial warnings. But there are other countries in the world that implemented the use of graphic warnings to prevent this vice to spreading to future generations: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Brazil, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Great Britain intents to adopt this measure in short time.

I think that people who already smoke and do not want to quit will not be scared by this pictures. But the teenagers will have a hard time starting to smoke, since these pictures take away the coolness from smoking and make them realize that smoking is not worth your health.

According to the press, 6 million Romanian adults are addicted to smoking and 5 million of cigarette packs are smoked daily in Romania. Some time ago, the Romanian cigarette brands were very popular: Carpati (name after the Carpathians, the mountain chain in Romania), Snagov (named after the picturesque town of Snagov, close to Bucharest) and Marasesti (named after the Marasesti battle field, where the Romanian army defeated the German one).

If the number of children & adults adopting this vice decreases or they make an extra effort to quit smoking, I think that this government program is a success.

At least I’m grateful that smoking is banned from public areas. I’m sick and tired of going to pubs / clubs / discos and inhaling the smoke. The smell from hair and skin and clothes, the sting in the eyes and the dizziness are reasons enough for a sane person not to start smoking. If you have a bad habit, keep it for yourself. Thank you.

For more pictures, events and posters, visit the Global Tobacco Control website or the Tobacco Control Supersite.