AUB-TCRG Meets with Lebanese President Michel Sleiman

Friday, December 2, 2011

On Friday December 2, 2011, members of the American University of Beirut-Tobacco Control Research Group met with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman at the presidential palace.

The main objective of the meeting was to get the president’s support and aid for enforcement of and compliance with the new National Tobacco Control Law. The group explained the importance of the law in terms of health and economic gains for the Lebanese. The discussion covered the need to counter expected opposition from the tobacco industry. The President promised to assign someone to follow up on issuing the necessary decrees as soon as possible and to ensure strict implementation of the law.

The five members who attended were Professor Rima Nakkash (Health Promotion and Community Health Department, FHS and coordinator of the group,  Dr. Ghazi Zaatari (Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine), Professor Christine Abbyad (Hariri School of Nursing) Professor Alan Shihadeh (Department of Mechanical Engineering) and Lama Al Aridi (Research Assistant).

Read the press release in Arabic