[Are tobacco smoking teachers knowledgeable on their habit?]

Teachers are an important part of anti-tobacco education. The aim of this study was evaluation of the level of tobacco smoking among teachers as well as to check their knowledge on tobacco toxicity. The study group consisted of 745 teachers from whom 671 participated in the study. We found that 32% teachers were smokers and it was a higher level than average for Polish population. Two thirds of responders were smoking from 6 to 20 cigarettes per day. 35% of teachers pointed tobacco smoke tar as risk factor of tobacco-related diseases (e.g. lung cancer). Similar percentage of responders pointed on the correlation between tobacco smoking and osteoporosis. As a conclusion of this study we would like to stress that the knowledge on tobacco-related topics among teachers is insufficient for a proper anti-tobacco education. In the future a repeated courses for teachers on such issues should be prepared.