The government of the Russian Federation has approved the country’s joining the WHO Framework Convention on combating smoking. The main blow will be dealt to the advertisers of tobacco products, but there is a threat that smoking in public places will also be prohibited
The convention was adopted on May 21, 2003, at the 56th session of the World Health Organization. One hundred forty-five countries and the EU had approved it by April 2007. Russia is planning to set out a Draft National Strategy on fighting tobacco smoking as well as to set up a nation-wide coordinating body. The document envisages complete or partial prohibition of the advertising of tobacco items and the carrying out of a tax policy aimed at cutting down tobacco consumption and introducing tougher requirements for the marking, labeling, and turnover of tobacco products. A ban on smoking in public places, a prohibition to sell tobacco articles to the under-aged, and an increase of excise taxes are also among the suggested measures. The Framework Convention prescribes publishing the ingredients of cigarettes and the composition of tobacco smoke on cigarette packaging.
The State Duma is to ratify the Convention. According to Olga Borzova, Chairperson of the Parliament’s Health Protection Committee, the Duma deputees have more than once raised the issue of speeding up the ratification of the document. It is high time to ratify it at last, Ms. Borzova added.
The intention to promote a healthy lifestyle can only be welcome. The question is how far the legislators are ready to go in their struggle. There are strong concerns that the battle over the issue may be just another source of corrupt practices.
It will probably be easier for the owners of public catering outlets, for example, to come to terms with inspectors than to lose their clientele. In addition, a lack of adherence to the rules is a national phenomenon. “People will keep on smoking as they used to, even if we hide ashtrays and keep reminding our customers that smoking is prohibited,” the manager of one of Moscow’s pubs told Expert. “They will simply shake off their ashes onto the plates or under their tables, and we won’t throw them out as they are our customers and we exist because they pay us,” the manager added.
In any case, tobacco industry representatives and experts believe that measures aimed at reducing smoking will hardly be realized in the near future.
Andrei Borzenko, Yekaterina Shokhina
Photo: Comstock complete / Fotolink
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