[Dangers due to smoking and passive smoking]

Smoking has become the most important single cause of illness and death. Since the rate of cure for the most frequent types of organ cancers is still very poor with little chance of improvement in the foreseeable future, it has become necessary to put more emphasis on cancer prevention. The same holds true for the dangers of passive smoking, which have now been confirmed by all the representative scientific bodies at home and abroad. Legal protection of nonsmokers in the workplace is long overdue. The irresponsible inactivity on the part of our government with regard to smoking and passive smoking has been sharply denounced, since it has become obvious that neither health education and information nor appeals to the public can bring about a change in the situation, but only the implementation of a whole catalog of measures, including adequate legislation.