THE WORLD NON-SMOKING DAY

The stamp has been issued in a 20-stamp sheet, and the First Day Cover (FDC) was also issued. With the goal of suppressing smoking, the chief avoidable risk factor involved in causing a number of diseases that bring about premature death, the World Health Organization proclaimed the 31st of May the World Non-smoking Day. Every year this day is devoted to the organization of different preventive activities. At the international level, the suppression of passive smoking has been emphasized this year. One of the ways public attention in Croatia has been attracted to the importance of the choice of non-smoking as the healthier way of life this year, particularly the attention of the young, is a competition organized in all the primary and secondary schools for the best proposal of the visual design and the best slogan. These proposals have been aimed at directing a warning about health at risk if smoking is involved, as well as the need to secure clean air without tobacco smoke. Out of about 1,000 pupils' works, the best visual proposal has been chosen as a model for the commemorative postage stamp that will be released on the occasion of the World Non-smoking Day that will warn the young of the danger involved in smoking, stimulate smokers to refrain from smoking, and demand from communities to secure premises devoid of tobacco smoke. In recent decades, many great studies have examined the impact of smoking upon health and it has been proved that tobacco and the consumption of tobacco products, particularly cigarette smoking, but likewise being exposed to tobacco smoke via passive smoking, all of these considerably contribute to contracting illnesses and lead to premature deaths caused by numerous diseases. Tobacco smoke contains more than 4,000 different chemical substances. The best known among them, nicotine, increases the number of heart-beats, raises the blood pressure and causes the contraction of the smaller blood vessels, and leads to addiction resulting from long-term usage. It has been proved for 49 ingredients of the tobacco smoke, particularly for the cigarette tar, to have cancerous effects. Nowadays smoking is considered to be the chief risk factor involved in the development of cancer of the bronchi, lungs, larynx, pharynx, oral cavity, esophagus, kidney, urinary bladder and pancreas. There is also a more frequent occurrence of cancer of the cervix and some forms of leukemia in persons who smoke. Tobacco smoke contains irritants that damage the respiratory system and bring about the development of chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Inhalation of tobacco smoke (passive smoking) in nurselings and small children leads to more frequent infections of the respiratory system. In adults smoking is a risk factor regarding the occurrence of peptic ulcer. One of the harmful ingredients of tobacco smoke is the carbon monoxide that binds hemoglobin 200 times faster that oxygen, which considerably reduces oxygen supply to the organism. This is particularly harmful for people suffering from cardiac diseases. In pregnancy this results in the reduction of oxygen supply to the foetus, which represents a risk for the safe development of the child. This is why mothers who smoke more frequently give birth to children with smaller weight, and infant mortality in new-borns and nurselings is higher if they are exposed to tobacco smoke. The World Health Organization assessed that in males smoking causes a mortality rate of between 90 to 95% owing to bronchial and lung cancer. 45-50% is due to other malign products, 20-25% is due to cardiac and vascular diseases and 75-80% of cases are deaths caused by chronic obstructive diseases of the lungs. In males and females there is a total of 15% deaths due to cardiac and vascular diseases and 30% deaths are caused by malign products connected with smoking. Tobacco smoke also has a harmful impact on non-smokers who have to stay in smoke-filled rooms and are compelled to inhale tobacco smoke (passive smoking). For example, there is a 25% greater risk of dying owing to a coronary disease and 30-35% greater risk of getting a bronchial or lung cancer in non-smokers who are exposed to tobacco smoke than in those non-smokers who are not exposed to passive smoking. According to the World Health Organization data, there is more than a billion smokers in the world, and 3.5 million people die yearly from consequences of smoking. Unless the current trends of smoking are stopped, in 30 to 40 years' time there will be some 10 million people a year dying from diseases connected with smoking. In Croatia practically one in three adults is a smoker, and it is estimated that about 12,000-14,000 people a year die from diseases connected with smoking.