Initially the law on tobacco control looked very well, but degraded as a result of the changes made by the Government and Parliament to the legislation, Rodion Gavriloi, health programs volunteer of the “PAS” Center, stated in hearings staged by the parliamentary commission on social protection, health and family on the implementation of the tobacco control provisions, IPN reports.

According to Rodion Gavriloi, Parliament took steps in favor of the kiosks selling tobacco products. In the initial variant of the law, these kiosks were included in the ambulatory trade chapter, but later the legislative body adopted a law saying the kiosks do not form part of ambulatory trade. The same happened to the kiosks that are located at least 200 meters from public institutions. The legislature delayed the implementation of the article that bans the sale of tobacco in these booths. The initial law on tobacco control should be restored and no changes should be made to this later.

Head of the commission on social protection, health and family Valentina Buliga said the number of smokers in Moldova has regrettably increased, especially among young people. “This is social behavior that harms the population’s health ad this is the most serious challenge to the public health and demographic security of the state,” noted the MP.

Secretary of State at the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection Aliona Serbulenko said the smokers represent 27% of the population and most of the smokers are aged between 25 and 34. The male smokers in rural areas are larger in number than in urban areas. In the case of women, the number of smokers is higher in towns than in villages.

In the course of 2017, the National Narcology Dispensary treated 3,491 persons addicted to tobacco. About 32,000 persons benefitted from counselling services to give up smoking.

According to the Ministry of the Interior, fines totaling about 5 million lei were paid into the state budget from June 2016 until now for illegally selling tobacco products and for smoking in banned places.

According to the WHO Representative to Moldova Haris Hajrulahovic, tobacco kills more than 7 million people worldwide each year. Of these, 1 million die because of secondhand smoke.

The MPs recommended formulating legislative proposals for improving tobacco control.