armenpress: ARMENIA TO JOIN INTERNATIONAL ANTI-SMOKE CONVENTION

YEREVAN, APRIL 16, ARMENPRESS: About 1 million 200,000 people die of smoking in Europe annually. Doctors project this number to reach 2 million by 2020. Mortality rate from cigarettes makes up 14 percent of total deaths.

According to official statistics, 67 percent of men and 3.1 percent of women smoke in Armenia. Specialists say cigarettes cause 30 percent of cancer and 20 percent of heart diseases.

Members of World Health Organization which comprise 192 countries have developed International Anti-Smoke Exchange Convention. Some 102 countries have already signed it. The convention aims to fight smoking disease.