MONTEVIDEO, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Anti-smoking policies in Uruguay have curbed the rate of heart attacks by 17 percent in the past decade, the government said on Wednesday.
To mark World No Tobacco Day, the Public Health Ministry touted a set of measures taken in 2006 to reduce tobacco consumption, especially among youth.
"We bet on the new generations having a lower prevalence of smokers," said Health Minister Jorge Basso, saying from 2006 to 2014, the smoking rate among adolescents dropped from 23 percent to 8 percent.
Among the measures the government took were to progressively increase the price of cigarettes, ban smoking in enclosed spaces, outlaw tobacco advertising, and legislate to have health warnings, including images of the damage tobacco can do, cover 80 percent of cigarette packages.
"Almost 90 percent of smokers begin to smoke before they are 20 years old, so the main objective is to prevent the young from doing it," Basso said at a press conference.
Uruguay plans to strengthen its anti-smoking laws, he said, by sending a bill to congress that calls for cigarette packages to be identical in form, color and typography, to eliminate brand recognition.
Uruguay is among the countries that have had to defend their right to protect their citizens' health from suits by tobacco giant Philip Morris, which accused them of violating bilateral investment agreements by passing anti-smoking legislation that hurt the company's profit margins.
