Czech President Advises People to Start Smoking, Says It’s Good for You

Prague Post
October 20, 2013

Miloš Zeman is one very few politicians who allows himself to be photographed with a burning cigarette.
Miloš Zeman is one very few politicians who allows himself to be photographed with a burning cigarette.

While most world leaders would not dare to make such a statement, we can always count on Czech President Miloš Zeman for the straight talk. His latest words of wisdom: Smoking is good for you.

Speaking at a Philip Morris cigarette factory in Kutna Hora, Cental Bohemia, the president – who is well known for his love of the drink and cigarette, let alone falling down at public events – provided his audience, and the world, with the scientific breakthrough that smoking wards off Alzheimer’s disease. His rational was that a person would die of cancer before getting Alzheimer.

According to Zeman, it is OK to smoke once you reach the age of 27. At that point, your body is fine and smoking cannot harm it. “I would like to inform you,” the president said, “that I started to smoke at the age of 27, when my body was fully developed and [I recommend] to your children a similar procedure. To wait up to 27 years and then smoke without risks.”

A self-described chain smoker, Zeman said he is against reducing cigarette consumption. “I do not think that any tobacco control or regulation leads to something other than a cigarette smuggling, which will be more expensive and yet have worse quality,” he said.

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