Associated Press - Russia passes new restrictions on tobacco

 MOSCOW -- Russia's lower house of parliament on Wednesday approved legislation to lower tar and nicotine content in cigarettes and to place large health warnings on the packs.

But some health advocates say the measure passed by the State Duma flies in the face of guidelines of the international tobacco control agreement that Russia joined this year.

The legislation, which still must be approved by the upper house and signed by the president before taking effect, allows cigarette makers to continue to identify some brands as "light" or "low-tar."

Dmitry Yanin of the Russian consumer rights group Konfop called those terms "misleading." If that language were removed, the legislation would "introduce important and useful tobacco control measures," he said in a statement.

The World Health Organization's tobacco control agreement has urged that such terms be prohibited, but the guidelines are not mandatory. Japan also has allowed the language to remain on cigarette packs.

Russia's chief epidemiologist, Gennady Onishchenko, has called the measure passed Wednesday "a compromise between doctors who want to make Russia a civilized country ... and the international tobacco mafia."

The measure calls for the maximum amounts of tar and nicotine in cigarettes to be reduced by 15-20 percent and for health warnings to be no smaller than 30 percent of the pack's surface, a substantial increase from their current size.

Russia's participation in the international tobacco control convention was a significant policy step in one of Europe's last bastions of widespread smoking, where more than 60 percent of men and 30 percent of women smoke regularly.

An estimated 500,000 Russians a year die from smoking-related diseases.

The convention calls for signatory countries to ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship of events within five years, among other measures.

Russia already has banned smoking in government offices and some public places, and has required large restaurants to establish nonsmoking sections.

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