RUSSIA -- While no one disputes the slow decline of tobacco demand, could anyone imagine a U.S. lawmaker proposing a ban on the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after 2014?
With the number of companies and consumers still committed to the category, such action is unlikely.
Not in Russia.
Earlier this month, the Russian Health Ministry proposed a ban on the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after 2014, even after that crop of customers reaches the country’s current legal age of 18.
Concerned about its growing tobacco-related health crisis, Russian authorities banned smoking in restaurants in 2013. Prague's Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that the newly proposed ban came in a draft called the Antitobacco Concept, which was signed by Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova and leaked to a Moscow newspaper.
The document outlines government efforts to curb smoking from 2017 to 2022 and still requires approval from the government, according to the radio news source.
Supporters said that by 2033, when the law would affect emerging consumers, the proposal will “not seem extreme,” reported Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Meanwhile, opponents of the measure said the move will simply create a black market.
Every year, according to the Health Ministry, 300,000 to 400,000 Russian citizens die from smoking-related illnesses, the news source reported.
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