#24 - RW 3-11-05 - RW Home
RIA Novosti
March 10, 2005
THE MAJORITY OF RUSSIAN SMOKERS WANT TO QUIT, BUT NEED HELP MOSCOW
(RIA Novosti commentator Vladimir SIMONOV)

There are notes posted on the windows of a bank on the ground floor of the building where I live, which says, "Please, do not smoke near the windows. The smoke gets in and makes our work impossible!" The thing is, the bank employees are not allowed to smoke in the building. They have to go outside, forming small groups of smokers, but their non-smoking colleagues find disturbing even this concession.

There is a growing number of Russians who acknowledge the harmful effects of smoking. However, the fight against this bad habit has yet to become a priority for the authorities, which are currently too busy implementing the benefits reform or modernizing communal services to be concerned about the harm tobacco has on an average Russian.

That is why Russia is still not on the list of 76 countries that ratified the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control that came into effect March 6. (Though, many other countries, including the United States and China did not ratify the convention, either). Nevertheless, the Russian government realizes the importance of the fight against tobacco addiction and, according to Douglas Bettcher, coordinator of the WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, "Russia actively participated" in the international discussion of the document.

The adopted document gives the signatory countries three years to increase the severity of warnings about harmful effects of tobacco placed on cigarette packs, and five years to ban advertisements and sponsorship of tobacco products. In addition, participants of the Convention must raise taxes on tobacco products, intensify the fight against the contraband of cigarettes and take appropriate measures to decrease the threat of secondhand smoke in public places.

Many Russian experts believe that the anti-tobacco convention might be even more important than the Kyoto Protocol, which Russia has already joined. Smoking is the second highest cause of death after high blood pressure. It kills 4.9 million people annually around the world, or one smoker every 6.5 seconds. By 2020, this death rate might double to 10 million people, with 70% of victims coming from developing countries.

In Russia, smoking, unfortunately, has long been a national tradition. According to the Coordinating Center on the Fight Against Tobacco Addiction, created within the Russian Health Ministry, 300,000 Russians die every year from smoking ailments.

The Russian example also applies to the studies of the correlation between smoking and poverty. Russian smokers waste up to 15% of the family budget on cigarettes, instead of spending money on education, health care and alimentation. Head of the Coordinating Center Tatyana Tkachenko is especially concerned about the popularity of tobacco among Russian schoolchildren. She pointed out that up to 46% of schoolboys and up to 40% of schoolgirls in senior classes of secondary schools in Russia are smokers.

But the clouds of tobacco smoke hanging over Russia are far from permanent, Mrs. Tkachenko believes. "According to our data, three quarters of Russian smokers would like to quit this bad habit, although they cannot do it on their own," she said.

The measures envisioned by the Framework Convention could help. The fact that Russia has not signed the document "does not prevent it from becoming participant in the Convention," Mr. Bettcher said. "A special accession procedure has been developed for such countries. It implies that a country can adopt all provisions of the document simultaneously," he explained.

Russian experts who actively participated in the discussion of the convention share the opinion widely accepted by their foreign colleagues - it is an important document, although it is rather "meek." The Convention lacks the so-called protocols, or additional agreements that establish stringent norms for specific aspects of the Convention.

The Convention does not establish clearly defined goals, either. For example, if all provisions of the Convention are followed to a letter; global tobacco consumption would annually drop by 1-2%. Is that enough? Should we consider such results a success? Russia, apparently, wants to hear answers to these questions before it ratifies the Convention.

Meanwhile, anti-tobacco attitudes continue to grow among business circles, public organizations and private citizens in Russia. The biggest Russian air carrier Aeroflot has been trying to ban smoking on all its flights for more than two years. Passengers protest, but have to comply somewhat. In Moscow there are quite a few restaurants and coffee shops, like the popular Coffee Bean chain, whose owners believe that tobacco smoke kills the aroma of exquisite meals, let alone coffee, and do not allow smoking on their premises. It seems as if patches of blue sky are starting to appear in the clouds of tobacco smoke hanging over Russia.