Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports that Greece, a country with one of the heaviest smoking populations in the world, announced Wednesday a country-wide ban on outdoor tobacco advertising for a five-month period that will take in the Athens 2004 Summer Olympic Games.
Greece’s Deputy Health Minister Ektor Hasiokas told AFP, “outdoor advertising for tobacco products will be banned between June 1 and November 1, 2004”. He added, “the measures will apply throughout Greece”.
But kiosks that advertise tobacco products on their awnings are exempt from the ban.
Meanwhile, on the heels of the Olympic torch relay announcement, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge said the international route could change for security reasons depending on a daily threat assessment of the cities where the flame will be carried.
Rogge sad, “we are planning today to have the full route without exception. (But) if at a certain stage the international situation would require us to take any action to change the route or to go from one city to another, bypassing a city or country, that will be done”.
