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 CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - In a country where perhaps the most popular national past-time is puffing on a water pipe or chain smoking while drinking tea, new laws designed to curb smoking are receiving a skeptical response.
Egypt's 76 million people smoke billions of cigarettes a year — one of the highest rates in the Middle East. Smoke-filled offices are the norm here along with taxi drivers who light one cigarette after another while stuck in Cairo's treacherous traffic. Nonsmoking sections in restaurants are unheard of and water-pipe filled cafes often overflow onto sidewalks, leaving the sweet smell of fruit-flavored tobacco lingering on the streets.
But some doctors and lawmakers here want to change Egypt's smoking culture. The country's parliament recently passed laws banning tobacco advertising and smoking in some public places including government buildings, schools and hospitals.
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