煙草在線據(jù)《俄羅斯政府公報》報道編譯 衛(wèi)生部制訂了一部嚴厲的反煙法案,將禁止在公共場所吸煙并取消機構(gòu)、醫(yī)院和咖啡館的吸煙區(qū)。該草案將在秋季提交給國家杜馬批準。
俄羅斯當局通過一項限制吸煙法已經(jīng)有11年了,俄羅斯批準世界衛(wèi)生組織的反煙公約已經(jīng)有4年了,普京簽署了《限制煙草消費的政府理念》已經(jīng)2年了。然而,據(jù)國際消費者聯(lián)盟的負責人德米特里·亞寧,俄羅斯依然是世界上煙癮最重的國家之一。據(jù)亞寧提供的數(shù)據(jù)顯示,高達60%的俄羅斯男性和22%的女性吸煙,其中85%的煙民是在20歲之前開始吸煙的。
“盡管種族之間差異巨大,但是俄羅斯是僅次于中國的第二大煙草市場,”亞寧說。“因此難怪制造商如此強硬地攻擊衛(wèi)生部制訂的煙草消費的新草案。”
草案并不是新的:一年前,該草案文檔被拿出來在當時被稱為公共衛(wèi)生部和社會發(fā)展部的官方網(wǎng)站上討論。在2012年5月20日,新成立的衛(wèi)生部的負責人把法律草案提交給了政府,但是2天后,在經(jīng)濟發(fā)展和貿(mào)易部、工業(yè)和貿(mào)易部以及農(nóng)業(yè)部的堅持下,草案被送回來進行進一步的完善。這些機構(gòu)認為,嚴格禁止將會對煙草制造商產(chǎn)生不利影響。包括菲莫和英美煙草在內(nèi)的主要市場參與者的代表,對根據(jù)新法律小零售店所有者可能被禁止進行卷煙貿(mào)易表示關(guān)注。在俄羅斯大約有100萬個這樣的零售店。
更嚴厲的反煙禁令的支持者,如《商業(yè)俄羅斯》的副總裁兼政府專家委員會的成員亞歷山大·奧西波夫,看到了煙草游說者在反對草案方面的影響?!翱傊?#xff0c;俄羅斯商業(yè)只會受益于這些禁令,”奧西波夫說。“在一年中,吸煙員工平均花費總共大約一個月時間吸煙休息。在因吸煙病倒之前,他或她需要請很多的病假——他們的治療費用部分地由他們雇主承擔?!?/p>
衛(wèi)生部中該計劃的支持者引用歐洲和美國的例子顯示,最終目的是營造全面禁煙環(huán)境的限制吸煙的舉措是全球趨勢。衛(wèi)生部長瓦倫尼卡·斯科沃爾左娃說,10月17日將再次把俄羅斯的措施提交給政府考慮,如果成功的話,將提交給國家杜馬批準。
A Final Warning to Russian Smokers
The Ministry of Health has developed a harsh draft anti-tobacco law that would ban smoking in public areas and remove smoking areas from institutions, hospitals and cafés. The draft will be submitted to the State Duma during the fall session.
It has been 11 years since the Russian authorities passed a law limiting smoking, four years since Russia ratified the anti-tobacco convention of the World Health Organization, and two years since Vladimir Putin signed the Governmental Concept for Restriction of Tobacco Consumption. Nevertheless, according to Dmitry Yanin, the head of the international Confederation of Consumer, Russia remains one of the heaviest smoking countries in the world. According to Yanin's data, up to 60 percent of Russian men and 22 percent of women smoke, and the 85 percent of them began smoking before they turned 20.
"Russia is the second largest tobacco market after China, even despite the huge difference in their populations," Yanin said. "So it's no wonder that manufacturers so forcefully attack the new draft bill on tobacco consumption developed by the Ministry of Health."
The draft bill is not really new: a year ago the document was put up for discussion at the official site of the agency, which was then called the Ministry of Public Health and Social Development. On May 20, 2012 the head of the newly formed Ministry of Health submitted the draft law to the government, but two days later the document was sent back for further development at the insistence of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture. These agencies believe that strict bans will have an adverse effect on tobacco manufacturers. Representatives of major market players, including Philip Morris and British American Tobacco, have expressed concern about owners of small-scale retail outlets who could be banned from cigarette trade by the new law. There are about one million such outlets in Russia.
Supporters of stricter anti-tobacco bans, such as Alexander Osipov, the vice president of Business Russia and a member of a governmental expert council, see the influence of tobacco lobbyists in the opposition to the draft bill. "All in all, Russian business will only benefit from these bans," Osipov said. "An average smoking worker takes a total of about a month worth of smoke breaks during a year. And before succumbing to the effects of smoking, he or she takes a lot of sick leaves - and their treatment is partly covered at the expense of their employers as well."
Restricting smoking with the intention of eventually creating a total ban on the practice is a global trend, say the supporters of the initiative of the Ministry of Health, citing examples in Europe and the United States. Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova says that the Russian measures will once again be submitted for the consideration to the Government on Oct. 17, and if successful, will be submitted to the State Duma. Enditem