For a smoke-free Europe

It is estimated that passive smoking kills more than 80,000 adults each year in the EU. Chronic exposure to second-hand smoke has been established as a cause of many of the same diseases attributed to active smoking, including cancer, heart disease and diseases of the respiratory system. Passive smoking also increases the risk of coronary heart disease among non-smokers by 25-30% - almost half the risk of smoking 20 cigarettes a day. Furthermore, in 2005, a team of health experts revealed that smoking-related diseases cost EU countries between Euros 98-130 billion annually, the equivalent of 1-1.4% of GDP.