Email
Password
(Forgot Password?)
Kazakhstan's government said Tuesday it would impose a total ban on smoking in public places and raise the drinking age to 21, a rare step in the hard-drinking, heavy-smoking former Soviet Union.
"We are now following the recommendations of the World Health Organization, according to whose data more than 30,000 people die every year in Kazakhstan from smoking," health ministry spokeswoman Agmagul Abenova told AFP.
Jump to full article »
The new program on prevention of sale of tobacco to minors has started in Kazakhstan, the agency reports citing British American Tobacco (BAT).
According to the company, to solve the problem of smoking of minors in Kazakhstan the new program on receiving permission for retail sale having the slogan: "not to sell cigarettes to people under 18". During the campaign, the materials containing signes "We do not sell tobacco products to people under 18" will be displayed in all retail stores of the country.
On Thursday, March 26, at 12 a.m. the Interfax-Kazakhstan press center (6th floor, 15 Republic Sq., Almaty) is to host a press conference entitled \"Reduction of Tobacco Consumption: Pros for Kazakhstan, Cons for the Tobacco Companies.\"
Majilis Committee for International Affairs, Defense and Security made a conclusion recommending the Chamber to adopt the draft law which foresees ratification of framework convention of the World Health Organization on tobacco control. Kazakhstan became the 129th state of the world to sign this convention.
Framework convention is an international legal document which binds the states to restrict global spread of tobacco and tobacco goods.
"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.
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.