The attitudes of Greeks towards second-hand smoke and the anti-tobacco legislation

Greece had according to Eurobarometer 2017 the highest rates of secondhand smoke exposure in the European Union (87%). The main aim of this study was to understand the reasons for the non-enforcement of the anti-tobacco legislation. To do this, we created two different questionnaires, one for smokers and one for non-smokers, and we collected epidemiological data, data about the attitudes of Greeks towards smoking, second-hand smoke, and the smoke-free legislation, as well as data about some relevant behavioural patterns. In total 597 non-smoker questionnaires and 366 smoker questionnaires were collected, with the mean age of the participants being 40 years old. The majority of people claimed that smoke disturbs them and, interestingly, smokers responded that they consider disturbing others with their smoke, and especially when children are present. Additionally, smokers said they would slightly reduce going out if the smoke-free legislation was strictly enforced, while non-smokers would respectively slightly increase going out. Based on this observation and given the higher proportion of non-smokers than smokers, we can assume that there will be no negative impact to the eating and drinking establishments, as many people were speculating, but to the opposite, there might even be a small benefit from the implementation of smoke-free measures. Since 2019 the relevant legislation has been enforced, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the long-term implementation and the true outcomes of the relevant legislation are more difficult to study.