One in four children over the age of 10 have tried cigarettes. This is shown by the data of the National Center for Public Health for the past 2022. Our country occupies one of the top places in teenagers - smokers.

"According to the latest data, Bulgaria ranks first in the EU in the number of smokers. This may be a deep-rooted national tradition, but for the sake of good, of health, of the future of young people, we must all change the angle at which we look at our lives. This is a dependence on nicotine. Many people find it difficult to give up, but the attempts of hundreds of others show that this is possible, "explained Dr. Gergana Geshanova from the Smoke Free Life Coalition in Bulgaria Morning.

According to her, one should ask oneself why and to whom one gives one's money for cigarettes and what happens to its health. According to her, the topic of what is happening in general with the health of the planet is already being raised.

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Regarding the large number of young smokers, Dr. Geshanova commented that the example of parents is very important.

"If I want my kids not to smoke, I won't smoke. The state does not support young people, billboards and advertisements are everywhere in Bulgaria. This gives the impression that it is something natural, acceptable, permissible, we have accepted it as normal, as part of our lives. There should be more conversations with young people, someone to explain to them what the consequences of this thing are," she said.

"There's something insidious about smoking, the damage doesn't happen right away, it takes 10 years for you to feel this irreversible damage happening in a person's liver. We need more health education classes, and that's missing for now. To implement such programs so that young people can understand what is happening to them, "says Dr. Geshanova.

"A big struggle was to ban smoking in indoor public places. We celebrate 11 years of what happened, but we still have holes in the law. In many indoor places, because they have plastic doors and sides, and there is smoke," she said.

Dr. Gergana Geshanova defined e-cigarettes as "a very clever and accurate machination to attract young people."

Tonight there will be a charity concert, which is "For Life Without Tobacco Smoke". It starts at 19 pm in front of the Academic Stadium opposite the Festivalna Hall in Sofia.