Suicide-smoker campaign aims to wean Serbs off weed

BELGRADE, Feb 1 (Reuters) Serbia has launched a nationwide media blitz equating smoking with suicide bombing, in its biggest campaign yet to persuade almost four million people in this cigarette-loving stronghold to quit the weed.

Huge billboard pictures show a man strapped with a vest of oversized cigarettes that look like sticks of dynamite, under the slogan ''One Smoker, Many Victims''.

Every second man and every third woman in Serbia gets through a pack of cigarettes daily, on average, sending a national total of 1.4 billion packs up in smoke per year.

''Cardiovascular diseases are the number one killer in Serbia, and from our surveys we found that almost all victims were smokers,'' said Tanja Knezevic, director of Serbia's Institute of Public Health, which leads the campaign.

More than half of all Serbs smoke, double the rate of the United States and higher than most other European countries.

Laws exist banning smoking in public places such as hospitals and government buildings, but are routinely ignored by a people long used to the pungent haze of tobacco smoke in every cafe, bar, bus and office.

There is no social stigma attached to smoking, and little financial incentive to quit: a pack costs as little as 50 dinars (0.60 euros or 0.78 dollars) for domestic brands, making it affordable even on the average salary of 300 euros a month.

''There are many reasons that smoking is so widespread: family background, stress, the bad economic situation,'' Knezevic told Reuters.

Most people see it as a bad habit they enjoy, she said, and even when more aware of the health risks they tend not to pay much attention. It does not help either that 45 percent of doctors and nurses in Serbia are smokers, she added.

''Other countries started educating their public decades ago, so I can only hope we can show similar progress in 20 years,'' Knezevic said.

''This campaign is very immediate and will also include street events and local celebrities. So hopefully it will get through to people.'' But cigarette vendors did not expect sales to suffer. They thought education would not make much difference as long as cigarettes remained cheap.

''People here smoke more than in other countries because we still feel the effects of the wars of the 1990s, we are still stressed,'' said Nikola Suberic, owner of a Belgrade corner shop.

''Getting people to quit smoking is a long process. I guess it will happen here eventually...as long as there's not another war, that is.'' Reuters SI GC0941