No smoking day in Cuba

Cuba plans to mark World No Tobacco Day on May 31 by updating its existing regulations on the control of smoking in public places, according to a story in Prensa Latina.

The head of the Department of School Health at the Ministry of Education, Yanira Gómez, said during a press conference held in Havana that Cuba had had in place since 1974 a regulation prohibiting tobacco smoking in institutions and state entities, including schools.

The regulation had been designed to be effective, taking into account the particularities of the educational system.

But it was now necessary to update the regulation by promoting new initiatives.

The story did not indicate what changes might be made to the smoking regulations.

But it said that this year’s campaign would aim ‘to mobilize the main social actors, as well as adolescent and young children, in the fight against exposure to tobacco smoke and in terms of sustainable development’.