OPINION: When Panama sets a good example

Hoyporhoy  La Prensa, May 31

TODAY  is World No Smoking Day, a date that allows us to intensify efforts to eradicate smoking as one of the sources of lung cancer and other serious diseases.

Internationally Panama is  recognized as a model country in the effort to reduce smoking. This is the result of hard work of civil society organizations, including the National Cancer Association and the Panamanian Coalition Against Tobacco, which together with the Ministry of Health and the private sector, educated and promoted regulations responsibly have saved thousands of lives. Although there are still new control measures to implement against electronic cigarettes, hookahs and other relevant items, the progress we have achieved as a country shows that when the authorities enforce the law without exception, a cultural change occurs that is reflected in the well-being of the Panamanian people. What we have achieved as a country on this issue is the best example to follow when observing  and enforcing  laws.