Email
Password
(Forgot Password?)
Farmers in Tajikistan's Zarafshon Valley this year will reduce tobacco crops by one-third. The decision has nothing to do with the worldwide anti-tobacco campaign or worries about smokers' health. For these farmers, the issue is purely economic. For the past two years, they have watched the market dwindle and have been left with almost no income -- and in poor health. . .
Tobacco is the only source of income for thousands of farmers in Zarafshon Valley. For many years, families in the region have rented plots on the tobacco plantation from local authorities. They grow the plant, gather their leaves, and sell them to the state-run Food Corporation for export abroad.
But now farmers say that for the past two years they have been unable to find a customer for their products.
Russia is Tajikistan's main tobacco importer. But many Russian companies have canceled their contracts with Tajikistan, saying the quality of the tobacco is not sufficiently high.
Jump to full article »
Farmers in Tajikistan's Zarafshon Valley this year will reduce tobacco crops by one-third. The decision has nothing to do with the worldwide anti-tobacco campaign or worries about smokers' health. For these farmers, the issue is purely economic. For the past two years, they have watched the market dwindle and have been left with almost no income -- and in poor health.
DUSHANBE, Tajikistan (AP) - A soft-voiced mullah shuffled out of the main mosque in Tajikistan's capital and berated a group of men for smoking before sundown during Ramadan. Only one relinquished his cigarette. . .
The secular traditions of the atheist Soviet era still dominate here, and Islamic teachings have remained limited despite a decade of independence. Many think it's safer that way. [This graph only]
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan claim American tobacco companies are to blame for tobacco-related illnesses among their populations and they've hired an American law firm to sue the biggest tobacco producers. RFE/RL correspondent K.P. Foley spoke to lawyers representing both sides of the issue and filed this report. . .
The lawsuits, one on behalf of Kyrgyzstan and one on behalf of Tajikistan, were filed in the state of Florida in the district court for Miami-Dade County on 24 January.
Joe Raia, whose Miami law firm is arguing each nation's case, told RFE/RL that Kyrgyz and Tajik authorities chose Florida as the venue to file their case because there is a history in Florida of favorable decisions in anti-tobacco lawsuits.
A lawyer said the two countries believed they had been intentionally targeted by the tobacco giants because many of their people were poorly educated and unaware of the dangers of nicotine addiction. . .
But their lawyers said the two countries spent hundreds of millions of dollars treating smoking related illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, emphysema and birth defects.
They also said both governments would have regulated tobacco more closely if the US companies had been honest about the risks of smoking.
"We believe the 'tobacco cartel' intentionally targeted these developing nations where most of the citizens are poor, undereducated and unaware of the dangers of nicotine addiction," attorney Sonny Holtzman added.
A lawyer representing both countries, Sonny Holtzman, said they believed Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan had been intentionally targeted by the tobacco companies because they were developing nations where most people are poor, uneducated and unaware of the dangers of nicotine addiction
The central Asian nations of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday filed U.S. lawsuits in Miami, claiming Marlboros maker Philip Morris and other American tobacco companies should pay the medical costs of sick smokers in the former Soviet republics . . .
``The republics ... are seeking judgments covering the hundreds of millions of dollars spent treating smokers who developed various forms of tobacco-related illnesses, including cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, emphysema and birth defects,'' lawyers for the countries said in a news release.
Following other countries, two Central Asian nations are suing the U.S. tobacco industry for the cost of smoking-related illnesses
"We believe the tobacco cartel intentionally targeted these developing nations, where most of the citizens are poor, undereducated and unaware of the dangers of nicotine addiction," said Sonny Holtzman, attorney for the former Soviet republics of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
The case was filed in Florida Circuit Court in Miami-Dade County, which produced a record $145 billion award for Florida smokers last year. Similar suits filed in Miami by Russia and Brazilian states have been moved by the industry to federal court and consolidated in Washington.