Lung nurse

Gennady Onishchenko prepared a lawsuit against tobacco companies

Russia's chief sanitary doctor, Gennady Onishchenko, who has always disliked the tobacco industry, yesterday launched a decisive offensive against cigarette manufacturers. The head of the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare (Rospotrebnadzor) Gennady Onishchenko said that he signed a lawsuit against British American Tobacco, which, according to him, violates Article 10 of the Law “On the Protection of Consumer Rights” -- “ misleads our citizens." The head of the federal service did not specify what kind of deception we are talking about. But he hinted that the manufacturers’ actions do not fit into the rules set out in the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which Russia ratified earlier this year.

The company itself officially states that it has not yet seen any lawsuits and does not even know what the chief sanitary doctor might have disliked so much. “I would like to note that British American Tobacco conducts its activities in Russia in full compliance with Russian legislation,” Alexander Lyuty, the company’s director of corporate relations, told Vremya Novostey.

But industry representatives working for other large tobacco companies told a Vremya Novostey correspondent that fundamental disagreements between industrialists and Rospotrebnadzor have long been formed. The fact is that the WHO Framework Convention is a fairly general document, as its name suggests. How exactly to implement it in practice is decided differently in each acceding country. Thus, the words that the consumer should receive reliable information about tobacco products can be interpreted in at least two ways: not to use, for example, the inviting definitions “light” and “superlight” in the name of cigarettes, or to use them , but with the obligatory note that no amount of ease reduces the harm from smoking. “Both options are used in the world,” the Tabakprom professional association explained to Vremya Novostey. “So, in Australia it is prohibited to use the words light and superlight on packaging, but in Japan it is allowed, but with appropriate explanations.” Which path Russia will take will become clear when the technical regulations for the tobacco industry are adopted in the second reading by the State Duma. And this should happen in the near future.

Experts are confident that Gennady Onishchenko’s unexpected move for the tobacco industry indicates that the lobbying struggle to amend this key document for the industry has entered a critical phase. After all, until yesterday it seemed that tobacco companies had already quite successfully “processed” State Duma deputies and they had nothing against allowing the use of “magic” (from a sales point of view this is true) words, albeit with explanations about the danger to health, typed in smaller font. But the head of Rospotrebnadzor actually announced the start of a big campaign against the cunning of the tobacco industry. And after “light Java” and other cigarettes produced by BAT with reduced tar and nicotine content, the products of other companies may also come to the attention of the chief sanitary doctor. “These gentlemen are very interested in Russia as an uncivilized market where they can sell products that are dangerous and poisonous to the body,” says Mr. Onishchenko. - This is a typical example of double standards - they don’t sell this at home. They want to create an enclave for themselves on the territory of Russia and continue to poison the health of the Russians, who have not yet completely ruined it.”

Gennady Onishchenko is confident that Russia should take an example from European countries, where a pack of cigarettes has long cost more than 5 euros and can only be smoked at home. Smoking is almost universally prohibited in public places.

Galina PAPERNAYA