All people have the right to smoke-free air. Children and other vulnerable people need unpolluted air for health. Everyone has a right to a smoke-free environment at home, in public places and at work. Communities and national governments have a duty to guarantee that no one is involuntarily exposed to tobacco smoke. There is a wide scientific consensus, as reflected in the work of the US Food and Drug Administration, that nicotine in tobacco products creates and sustains addiction.
Most smokers start at early age thus developing a substance dependence.
All governments should protect adolescents from tobacco addiction, as they do from other addictions, by using eduction and well enforced legal restrictions on the sales of tobacco to adolescents. The new initiative on the international framework convention on tobacco prepared by WHO deserves the support of all countries and the European Community. The Conference urges all CEE Governments to take urgent action against tobacco, following the example set by Lithuania, Poland and Slovenia, in order to improve health and to prevent the widening gap in health status and legislation between EU and CEE countries. All international organizations should support politically, financially and otherwise, action in CEE countries. Since women may be more vulnerable than men to the principle diseases related to tobacco, and as they are also a prime target of the tobacco industry, all countries are urged to adopt strategies recognising these special needs.