public health

The annual lost economic benefits (in 2019) associated with cigarette smoking amount to 4.4 billion BGN or 3.7% of GDP; Estimates show that smoking increases the risk of coronary heart disease (2 to 4 times), stroke (2 to 4 times), lung cancer …

This Friday (29.06) representatives of the GERB parliamentary group, led by Menda Stoyanova (who is also the chairwoman of the Budget and Finance Committee) submitted a bill to unify the excise tax on sticks for the newly emerged IQOS product for "smokeless smoking" and conventional cigarettes. The measure is surprising because it goes against …

Yesterday we angered the Minister of the Interior Valentin Radev. He was offended that we took data that is freely available from the website of the Ministry of the Interior and told it to the public. The reason was the "Analysis of Bulgarian Drug Policy 2009-2016" that we published. The information "undermines the authority of the Ministry of the Interior", he said and sullenly scolded us for not ...