The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has neither political, nor medical, or legal reasons to reject a list of warning images to be printed on cigarette packages, Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense Party member Lesia Orobets has said.
"The Cabinet of Ministers has no reason to reject this resolution [with the list of warning images, which are to be printed on cigarette packages]: neither medical, nor legal, nor political." She said at a press conference in Kyiv on December 3.
According to her, the Ukrainian Health Ministry jointly with experts and in co-ordination with all interested ministries and departments worked out the draft resolution.
"It has been submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers three times, and every time they returned it for revision without any notes," the deputy said.
She stressed that by rejecting the resolution Ukraine is violating a number of its international obligations, especially the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which it signed in 2006.
Orobets added that under current legislation, the images should appear on packages starting from January 1, 2012. According to her, the list of images for Ukrainian cigarette packages will include photos from the European Union’s collection.
The deputy said that "tobacco lobby" is trying to stop the Cabinet of Ministers approving the resolution. "What’s hindering them? The reason lies in the tobacco lobby. It’s quite obvious," she told Interfax-Ukraine.
