Tobacco.org

• Kazak Smokers Fuming 

"It's madness! Now I have to run out of my office every time I want to have a smoke. I can't leave my workplace and stand in the corridor for hours, in a specially designated place," said businessman Alexei Mandrykin indignantly.

Many Kazak nicotine addicts are similarly outraged by the government's April 1 ban on smoking in public places. The authors of the bill say it is aimed at reducing the number of smokers - there are 3.2 million, nearly a third of the adult population, according to official statistics. But some believe the number is much higher.

"The count was mainly done in the big cities and regional centres, while smokers in the rural areas have never been counted," said sociologist Mikhail Maznov.

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Tobacco companies set to fight smoking among Kazakh children 

Today, the Kazakh government and tobacco companies operating in the country signed a memorandum on mutual understanding. The document says that the fight against smoking among children and teenagers might be more efficient if efforts are pulled together.

The anti-tobacco coalition is planning to carry out several serious campaigns this year. Advertising trailers will be shot under the slogan "They do not smoke", sports events for young people will be held and Internet projects will be carried out. . .

By phoning hot lines, teenagers can receive anonymous consultations on issues of smoking, taking drugs and alcohol consumption.

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USA's Philip Morris invests over 300m dollars in Kazakh economy in 10 years [Source: BBC Monitoring Central Asia] 

The Philip Morris Kazakhstan and Central Asia company (Philip Morris's subsidiary) has invested 323m dollars in the country's economy over the past 10 years.

"Those are mainly projects in the food and agricultural sectors," says a press release issued today by the Kazakh president's press service following the president's meeting with the company's head.

[Kazakh President] Nursultan Nazarbayev and the company's managing director, (?Il Vu Chong), discussed the company's new investment projects in the country, the press release says.

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Smoking and musculoskeletal disorders: findings from a British national survey. 

CONCLUSIONS: There is an association between smoking and report of regional pain, which is apparent even in ex-smokers. This could arise from a pharmacological effect of tobacco smoke (for example, on neurological processing of sensory information or nutrition of peripheral tissues); another possibility is that people with a low threshold for reporting pain and disability are more likely to take up and continue smoking.

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New Tobacco Factory Launched in Southern Kazakhstan 

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China to invest 1m dollars in tobacco plant in south Kazakhstan 

The Chinese side is going to attract 1m dollars of investments in the tabacco factory near Almaty until the end of 2001, the president of the Nika company, Kumar Musin, told a news conference today.

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The Society Calls for Restricting Smoking 

On Monday a group of Kazakhstani people appealed to the government calling for restricting smoking among young people. At present they are going to initiate issuing of the bill to fight this vice.

The head of the Public Health Agency says that currently the bill “On restrictions of smoking” was anticipated in the country. The bill has already been worked out and will be submitted to the Parliament.

According to Zhaksylyk Doszhanov, for the purpose of prophylaxis and resisting smoking and other harmful habits, in September 2000 the Public Coordination Council was established. The Council is a consultative and advisory body subordinate to the government.

He also said that the Council’s appeal had been supported by about 38 parliamentarians and different public organizations.

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US Tobacco Company Invests In Kazakhstan [Source: BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union - Economic] 

Text of report by the Kazakh news agency Interfax-Kazakhstan

Kostanay, 2 March: Following its acquisition in 1993 of the Almaty tobacco factory, the US Philip Morris company has invested around 340m dollars in the development of the Kazakh economy, the director for corporate issues of Philip Morris Kazakhstan, Konstantin Panin, said at a public round table in Kostanay.

He also said that last year the Philip Morris Kazakhstan open joint-stock company paid taxes of more than 4bn tenge (the exchange rate is 145.3 tenge to the dollar). The average wage at the company is 300 dollars [per month].

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• Cigarettes to be Available From the Age of 18, As With Passports 

Giant tobacco companies operating in Kazakhstan and belonging to the coalition "Action against smoking among children and teenagers", has declared together with Almaty akimat a new stage of the program on restrictions on selling cigarettes to minors. . .

"Selling of cigarettes to minors in Kazakhstan should be stopped. We realize that tasks of such a scale could not be performed in one day, month or even a year, and we are ready for long-term serious work. We are firmly convinced that we will be a success, having united our efforts with those of sellers, teachers, parents and state authorities", - representatives of tobacco companies have claimed at a press conferences.

The program on restrictions on selling cigarettes to minors is a part of the "Action against smoking among children and teenagers", carried out by tobacco producers "Phillip Morris", "JTI", "Gallakher" together with executive offices of Kazakhstan including Ministry of Culture, Information and Public consent, Ministry of Education and Sciences and Agency on Tourism and Sport.

The republican youth movement "For Kazakhstan's future" has also supported the "Action against smoking among children and teenagers" and intends to take an active part in it.

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USA's Philip Morris opens tobacco plant in southern Kazakh region 

The US company Philip Morris opened a tobacco manufacturing plant in Ili district of Almaty Region, southern Kazakhstan, on 19th May, Kazakh Khabar TV reported the same day. Speaking at the plant's opening ceremony, Kazakh Prime Minister Kasymzhomart Tokayev said that "the government values Philip Morris as an accurate tax payer and supports its programme of developing tobacco production".

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Over 30 per cent of Kazakhs smoke, health campaign launched 

In all, 3.2m people or 32.9 per cent of the total (15m) population of the republic smoke tobacco in Kazakhstan, an Interfax-Kazakhstan agency correspondent reported, quoting statistics circulated today by the national centre for promoting a healthy lifestyle.

According to the centre, almost 40 per cent of smokers are between 20 and 40 years old.

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Philip Morris to Open $340 Mln Kazakh Tobacco Factory in May 

St. Petersburg, Russia, March 13 (Bloomberg) -- Philip Morris Cos., the world's largest tobacco company by sales, will open a $340 million plant in the Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan in May, the company said.

The factory will make tobacco products to be sold in Kazakhstan and other Central Asian republics and could also export tobacco to Russia, the company said.

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4 Die in Kazakstan Dorm Fire 

Three men and a woman died of burns and asphyxiation. Some residents of the dormitory panicked and suffered severe injuries when they jumped out the windows of lower floors, ITAR-Tass said. . . Investigators were trying to pinpoint the cause of the fire, which some thought might have been caused by a burning cigarette butt.

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