Published 1 December 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a2837
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a2837

News

Russia defies WHO antismoking convention by allowing misleading advertising

Vasiliy Vlassov

1 Moscow

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The Russian government is flouting the World Health Organization’s convention against smoking, despite having ratified it earlier this year.

In defiance of the convention a new Russian standard permits the use of misleading advertising of cigarettes, including the use of the word "light" to describe certain brands, and allows representatives of the tobacco industry to take part in the legislative process.

The lower chamber of the Russian national parliament, the Duma, has passed the national standard for tobacco products in its second hearing. The standard, which was prepared by a lobbyist from the tobacco industry, legalises the trade of cigarettes under names that include words such as "light." Although a third hearing is needed before the standard becomes law, this tends to be a formal approval process only, and changes at this stage are unlikely.

Russia took part in the development of WHO’s convention against smoking and voted for it . . . [Full text of this article]


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Reducing Tobacco Smoking in Russia
Harald M Lipman
bmj.com, 9 Dec 2008 [Full text]
Access jobs at BMJ Careers
Whats new online at Student BMJ