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· Tobacco Control
· Smokefree Policies
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· Georgia
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Parliament enacts US-style anti-smoking law, though independent-minded Georgians are unlikely to obey.
Jump to full article: Institute for War & Peace Reporting (uk), 2003-09-19
Author: Zaza Baazov in Tbilisi (CRS No. 196, 19-Sep-03)
Intro: Georgia's anti-smoking lobby scored a victory earlier in September when parliament passed a new law banning people from lighting up in public. But this is not a country where people stick to the rules - and this is one that smokers are unlikely to observe. . . .
The law had a rocky passage through parliament, where some deputies have connections with the tobacco industry.
Another obstacle was that many of the deputies smoke themselves . . .
The Georgians are among the world's heaviest users of tobacco per capita - 40 per cent of the country's 4.5 million people, and about half of all young men, smoke. According to the Georgian Alliance for Tobacco Control, 11,000 people die from tobacco-related diseases every year . . .
The tobacco lobby then did its best to curb the most restrictive aspects of the new law. Teimuraz Mikaberidze, financial manager for the tobacco firm GTM, confirmed that producers had extensive input in the drafting process. "We got some unacceptable points taken out, for example the provision that cigarette outlets must be at least 200 metre away from schools,"
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