Ramadan fast means hard times for smokers

No wonder there are more terrorist threats and attacks during ramadam. AP

Like Romaneh in this West Bank Palestinian city, millions of Muslim smokers get on a nicotine roller coaster during Ramadan, which ends this year in late September. But health campaigners are increasingly trying to get them to quit altogether, using Ramadan as a springboard for anti-smoking drives.[...]

Smoking is embedded in the culture of many Muslim countries. About 63 percent of men smoke in Jordan; 49 percent in Tunisia; 42 percent in Syria; 38 percent in the Palestinian territories and 28 percent each in Lebanon and Morocco. Few women smoke because of cultural taboos.