LETTER TO EDITORS
Smoke-free policy in Poland on the example of the implementation into national law of the European Parliament and Council Directive 2014/40 /EU of 3 April 2014 on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning the production, presentation and sale of tobacco and related products, and repealing Directive 2001/37/WE
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1
Department of Healthcare Organizations and Medical Jurisprudence, School of Public Health, Centre for Postgraduate Medical Education, Warsaw, Poland
2
Department of Prevention of Environmental Hazards and Allergology, Medical University, Warsaw, Poland
3
Department of Public Health, Ministry of Health, Warsaw, Poland
4
University of Humanities and Economics, Lodz, Poland
Ann Agric Environ Med. 2016;23(3):395-398
ABSTRACT
Poland in the 1980s was a country with the highest
incidence of smoking tobacco products in Europe – 42%,
therefore it became necessary to take urgent and effective
measures to reduce the undoubtedly harmful to health
smoking of tobacco products among millions of Poles. These
actions over the past 20 years have brought huge success, as
witnessed by a significant decline in smoking in Poland to
24% in 2015.
One of the important factors affecting the incidence of
smoking among men and women all age groups, including
children and youths, was the law of 1997 on protection of
health against the consequences of tobacco use and tobacco
products (Journal of Laws, Item 298, 2015), introducing,
among others, a total ban on tobacco advertising. The
development of this Act was a milestone for Polish smoke-
free policies.
Another very important success was the amendment of the
said Act, which took place in April 2010. This introduced a
number of smoking bans, among others, in hospitals and other
medical entities, organizational units within the education
system, indoor plants work in means of public passenger
transport, public transport stops, playgrounds and premises
for catering-entertainment (outside the designated, separate
places). With this solution, since 2010 Poland has significantly
decreased exposure to tobacco smoke in public places. The
largest — more than twice — the decrease in exposure was
observed in the premises for catering-entertainment (from
36% to 14%).