Princess Dina Mired points to dangers of smoking on health, environment 

AMMAN — Marking World No Tobacco Day (WNTD), the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM), the Health Ministry and the World Health Organisation (WHO) launched two tobacco inspection guides.

Speaking during the launch event on Tuesday, HH Princess Dina Mired said that “tobacco use is harmful and the life cycle of tobacco is a particularly polluting process”, adding that annually around 3.5 million hectares of land are destroyed worldwide to grow tobacco.

Princess Dina said that the aim of the global campaign is to increase awareness of the environmental impact of the tobacco cycle, starting from planting and distributing the item to the poisonous waste it produces, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

In Jordan, when speaking about the environment and the tobacco industry, “smoke-free” policies that ban smoking in public places are being carried out, the princess noted.

She also said that cigarette butts produce 1.69 billion pounds of toxic waste and emit harmful chemicals into the air, water and soil. 

She called for applying the Public Health Law and employing inspectors to combat the negative impact tobacco can have on smokers, their families, the environment and the economy. 

Quoting data published by the Department of Statistics, the Princess said: “Jordanians spend more money on tobacco products than money spent on bread, food and vegetables.”

Health Ministry Secretary General for Preliminary Healthcare and Epidemics Raed Shboul said that the dangers tobacco causes for the planet require more tight monitoring on practices that might lead to increased risks resulting from smoking.

World Health Organisation (WHO) Representative in Jordan Jamila Raibi said that the Health Ministry, GAM and WHO in Jordan worked hard to launch the guidebooks to enhance their roles in the inspection of tobacco products.

Raibi referred to a study conducted by the ministry in cooperation with WHO on the percentage of smokers in Jordan, which showed that 80 per cent of adults in the Kingdom are subject to passive smoking.

Princess Dina also handed over the World Environment Day award for GAM and the Royal Health Awareness Society and honoured the Health Ministry for their support of the Bloomberg initiative for healthy cities.

Jordan has “enormous capacities” to implement global standards in banning tobacco products and building healthy cities, according to Mervat Mheirat, deputy director of the health and agriculture department at GAM.

She noted that local and international partnerships are key to building smoke-free cities.