The Russian State Duma Compromised

Vladivostok, December, 1, “Health – the FE, Vasiliy Akimov). The State Duma passed a bill at the second reading on the tobacco technical regulations which was hailed by Gennadiy Onishenko “a compromise between medics who want to change Russian standards according to international regulations, and uncontrolled tobacco mafia”.
Mr Onishenko underscored that the European and American legislation is very strict about tobacco regulations. The Russian legislation has three wordings that concern Rospotrebnadzor.
The first one is the 5 year period while Russia will have to change its standards of percentage of nicotine and tobacco resin in compliance with the international standards. The period is thought to be too long and needs to be reduced.
The second is the signs on the cigarettes “light” and “super light”. There should be a note that it does not make the cigarettes less harmful for people’s health. Mr Onishenko is known to oppose the signs “light” and “super light” as they are misleading.
The third salient point is other special signs that are useless. These are considered to warn off people but signs like “Smoking Affects Your Skin” or “Keep Children Off Smoking” are useless. Such notes must be replaced by new ones, said Mr. Onishenko.
The bill must go through the third reading and approved by President.