Member of Parliament: Daily Tobacco Consumption in Iran is 30 Billion Tomans

A member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly has announced that the minimum age for tobacco consumption in Iran is '11 years' and stated that Iranians 'smoke 30 billion tomans worth of tobacco daily,' referring to the doubling of cigarette consumption among girls. Asghar Salimi, in an interview with the official website of the Parliament (House of the Nation), described the level of tobacco consumption in Iran as 'worrisome.' According to Mr. Salimi, cigarette and hookah consumption in Iran is 'increasing day by day, with a doubling of cigarette use among girls.' He also added that the 'trend' of women and adolescents towards tobacco consumption has increased, with the 'age of tobacco consumption in the country reaching 11 years,' and currently, Iranians 'smoke 30 billion tomans worth of tobacco daily.' The representative from Semirom reported that 30 to 35 percent of high school girls and 55 percent of teenage boys and students have experience with hookah. He also criticized the lack of any 'program to combat tobacco' in the country, warning that cigarette consumption is a gateway to addiction and accounts for '30 percent' of deaths in Iran. According to Mr. Salimi, the 'availability and low cost of cigarettes, lack of healthy recreational activities, and inadequate cultural education and training' are effective factors in increasing tobacco consumption, and he urged the government to take 'serious steps' to enforce tobacco-related laws. Yesterday, a member of the Tobacco Control Policy Committee called the annual consumption figure of 55 billion cigarettes in Iran a 'lie of the tobacco industry,' stating the actual number is 40 billion. Hasanpour Azari, in a press conference for Tobacco Week, said, 'The tobacco industry is wealthy and produces its own voice. We must unite the 75 million people who do not smoke and make their voices heard by politicians.' He criticized parliament members who proposed an interpretation bill to remove coffee houses from the list of public places, accusing them of having an eye on the upcoming parliamentary elections. In recent years, a group of coffee house owners has repeatedly gathered in front of the parliament to protest the ban on offering hookah in coffee houses, claiming that the ban threatens their livelihoods. Mohammad Reza Masjedi, Secretary-General of the Iranian Tobacco Control Society, has also warned about cigarette and hookah consumption among Iranian adolescents, stating they 'become addicted. We should not just focus on numbers but must take serious action.' He had previously reported that annually, 60,000 people in Iran die due to tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke. Alireza Raisi, Deputy Minister of Health, had also reported similar statistics, stating that tobacco consumption, especially hookah, 'grew by 40 percent between 2006 and 2011.' Tobacco use has been identified as the second leading cause of cardiovascular diseases worldwide after high blood pressure. It has been reported that tobacco use leaves over seven million victims globally each year, nearly 900,000 of whom are non-smokers.