There are always moments we never forget. One of those moments that many people can't forget is when they have their first cigarette. Some may remember that first puff with joy, as it reminds them of their naughty, exciting youth, while others regret the day that marked the beginning of a nightmare they're still trying to get over. Atef Ahmed remembers that day very clearly. "It was just before the exams in my last year of prep school when one of my friends gave me my first cigarette one afternoon,” he recalls. "I smoked it as I walked home from school," says Atef, a 30-year-old civil servant, who still remembers the smell and the taste. "I wasn't a stranger to smoking, as my father was a heavy smoker. My friend had also been smoking for a long time and he told me that smoking helped you concentrate and only wimps were scared of cigarettes." Atef is one of nearly 13 million smokers in Egypt. According to the Egyptian Ministry of Health, 439,000 children under the age of 15 smoke, while 74,000 smokers of them are less than 10 years old. Like many people Ahmed regrets not quitting shortly after he started. "It would have been easier to quit earlier. One day, my mother caught me red handed with a packet of cigarettes in my pocket. She said that she would tell my father, but she was afraid of his reaction so she didn't," adds Atef, a talented football player who can now only manage to play for the first thirty minutes of a match. "If she had told my father, I'm sure I would have quit smoking," Atef told the Mail in an interview. "The first thing that parents should do to prevent their children from smoking is to quit smoking themselves," stresses Mostafa K. Mohamed, Professor of Community Medicine at Ain Shams University and senior researcher at the Egyptian Smoking Prevention Research Institute. Mohamed says parents who smoke and who don't want their children to are really being hypocritical. "So the first thing parents should do is give up smoking themselves, then it will be easier for them to deal with the problems of the youngsters," he adds, adding that using violence to deal with young smokers is not a good idea: dialogue and frankness are much better. "Getting your children away from bad friends is one precaution that may help," he continues, adding that children should be supplied with information about the many negative effects of smoking. But it's still impossible to stop many youngsters from experimenting with that first cigarette. "However, we must try hard to reduce the number of new smokers. Parents should hug their children, not only to let them feel warmth and love, but it's also a way of discovering whether their children smoke or not." Mohamed says that, when someone starts smoking at an early age, it is a catastrophe, as this young smoker is likely to suffer the deadly effects of smoking at early age, when he is supposed to be productive, serving his community. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), smoking causes 90 per cent of lung cancer cases in Egypt, while many people with heart disease here are smokers. Mohamed says that around 55 per cent of children try smoking, while nearly half of them continue for another year. "Awareness campaigns in recent years has kept the number of smokers from rising, but still we can't stop it, especially as the tobacco manufacturers are doing their best to attract new smokers, especially through cinema and movies. Egyptian filmmakers find it difficult to produce movies without any smoking scenes. When an actor or actress lights up or objects to tobacco use on screen, millions of young people in theatres across the nation and around the world receive the message. The tobacco industry has created an image of smoking as being tough, cool, attractive and rebellious. Many people start smoking as they want to portray a certain social image. Mohamed Atawa, a 16-year-old who works collecting the fares on a microbus in Cairo, definitely falls into this category. "All the microbus drivers and their assistants smoke. If you don't, all the others call you a big baby," he says, while happily puffing away on a strong, locally made ciggie as he collects the fares. In spite of the new law enforced in 2007 to prohibit smoking in public places, many Egyptians still ignore it. Dr Mohamed stresses that it will take some time to implement it. Some youngsters believe smoking helps lift their depression or anxiety, as well as turning them into mature adults. For many young people these days, especially girls, being cool means smoking sheesha. For them it's a sign of independence and freedom. The spreading of sheesha among youngsters is in fact more serious, as it can lead to the development of many fatal diseases at an early age. The WHO data on smoking in Egypt (‘Country Statistics on Tobacco Use and Control, 2001') indicate a high prevalence of smoking among males (47 per cent) and a very low prevalence of smoking among females (5 per cent), although it is thought that many more females smoke away from the public eye. Many professionals in sensitive occupations such as medicine and teachers, who should be role models for society, also seem to be fond of smoking, which is permitted in many work places. A WHO study, carried out in co-operation with Egypt's Central Authority for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS), found that 5 per cent of the family income in Egypt is spent, in one form or another, on smoking. Experts put the economic cost of smoking to Egypt at LE8 billion given that around 85 million cigarettes are smoked per year.
