Civil society will protest against violations of tobacco control legislation

The NGO Coalition for promoting tobacco control policies will stage Thursday a protest to raise awareness of the general public and decision makers about the non-observance in Moldova of the provisions of the Tobacco Law and the necessity of ratifying the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control by the Parliament. Representative of the National Youth Council of Moldova, Tudor Darie, stated on May 2 at a news conference that the provisions of the Tobacco Law are being violated in Moldova. The cigarettes are being sold to minors, by piece, and by persons that do not hold licenses to act so. At the same time, the authorities do not undertake anything to counteract smoking in public places, involvement of children and women in producing and processing tobacco. Director executive of the Resource Centre “Young and Free”, Antonita Fonari stated that the Coalition urges authorities to ratify the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control before May 31, when the World No Tobacco Day is celebrated. Though the respective document was signed by Moldova in June 2004, the Parliament delays its ratification. According to the Coalition’s members, the ratification will be an incentive to implement other aspects as regards the fight against smoking: to enact comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, to include warnings on the packs of cigarettes regarding the damage of smoking, to interdict smoking at work, to combat smuggling of tobacco goods, to regulate the setting up of prices of cigarettes, to initiate certain national programmes in the field etc. The Coalition for promoting tobacco control policies also claims the fact that the Strategy for developing the agricultural sector provides a series of actions intended to revitalise tobacco-cultivation in Moldova, while for the motivation of the tobacco-growers, 3 mln lei were allocated from the Agricultural Subsidy Fund this year. This is by 1 mln lei more than the sum planned for 2006. This fact shows that Moldova does not intend to renounce this field and to introduce restrictions, thus looking just for the economic profit, to the detriment of public health. The protest action of the NGO Coalition for promoting tobacco control policies will be held in the square of the National Opera House, on Thursday, between 9.00 and 11.00.