22 January, Sofia, Bulgaria - Bulgaria's Smoke-free Life Coalition launched the first Civil Smoke-Free Day on 22 January in Sofia City Centre – one of the city's shopping malls. The initiative aimed to generate public support for restoring the complete ban on smoking in Bulgaria, following a government proposal filed with the parliament in December to restore the ban beginning 1 June 2012.
Within six hours, the organisers had collected 526 signatures in support of restoring the complete smoking ban in the country. "I am excited that so many people are ready to sign and support the total ban", said Gergana Geshanova, MD, the co-ordinator of the Smoke-free Life Coalition and team leader of the Bring Back the Ban project. The project is managed by ADRA Bulgaria, a grantee of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) funded by the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use.
As part of the day's activities, volunteers from the Medical Students Association tested visitors' lungs for carbon monoxide concentration. A European Union-sponsored campaign, Ex-Smokers are Unstoppable, presented the iCoach web platform for those wanting to quit smoking. The Civil Smoke-Free Day was widely publicised in the national media, as well as in more specialised health and activist websites.
The Bulgarian Parliament is expected to vote on the Health Act amendments in February, which should restore the public smoking ban. The ban, which was first approved in 2009, faced a setback in 2010 when the Parliament cancelled it under pressure from the tobacco industry. The Ministry of Health and the Council of Ministers put forward the amendment to reinstate the ban on 14 December 2011.
Building on that momentum, the Smoke-free Life Coalition and the Smoke-free Bulgaria Civil Initiative also suggested additional changes to the proposed amendments introduced to the Parliamentary groups and commissions. Civil society's proposed changes are meant to expand the scope of the planned ban to specific outdoor areas, including children's playgrounds, recreational and sports facilities and public transportation stops. The citizens' organisations have also proposed strengthening the enforcement of the new ban by involving more enforcement agencies, including the police, the labour and food inspectorates, as well as voluntary citizens' participation.
A video recording of the event is available at http://vimeo.com/35677871.