Penza, 7 November 2012. PenzaNews. Social action against smoking attended by the members of public organizations of the regional center and students of secondary specialized educational institutions of the region was held in the square named after Dzerzhinsky in Penza on Wednesday, November 7. For an hour, the students were handing out leaflets about the danger of smoking and the effect of cigarette smoke on the body of a pregnant woman.

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During the event a narcologist and a member of the Public Chamber of the Penza region Sergey Degtyar gave a short lecture informing that in the Soviet Union about 280 thousand people used to die of nicotine addiction every year, and now this number is even more — over 400 thousand people on the territory of Russia.

“On the average a smoker loses 10 years of his life, not counting the cost of cigarettes and further treatment when a senior,” Sergey Degtyarev said.

According to the Executive Director of the charity fund for family, motherhood and childhood support “Pokrov” Anna Kuznetsova, the main aim of the event was to attract young people’s attention to the problem of smoking.

“Students painted posters and printed leaflets, where they emphasized the fact of increase of the number of smoking pregnant women. If we pay more attention to this issue together, this problem will be easier to solve,” the agency interlocutor stated.

Anna Kuznetsova pointed that action against smoking took place in the framework of the project “Life and Health is my choice,” which is being implemented in nine areas of the Penza region.

“The next event will be held on November 13 in Bessonovky area. The results of the project will be announced in April,” she specified.

At the end of the action one of the participants stamped out a paper “cigarette” at the chanting of the slogan “Penza is a city for non-smokers.”