You're reading: More people quit smoking as tougher measures adopted

More Ukrainians are giving up the highly damaging smoking habit as legislation toughens bans on advertising, smoking in public places and introduces disturbing graphic warnings on cigarette packs.

As of Dec. 16, smoking indoors will be illegal as a new law signed by President Viktor Yanukovych in June comes into effect. It prohibits smoking in restaurants, bars, cafes, hotels, governmental buildings, sport arenas and cultural premises. Hookah pipes and electronic cigarettes also fall under the ban.

These premises’ smoking rooms or areas will be closed, but will still be allowed in office buildings. Violators will face fines of Hr 1,000 ($125) to Hr 10,000.

The new bill adds to the pile of recent success of tobacco-control legislation. In September, a law banning all forms of cigarette advertising came into effect. Moreover, since Oct. 4, tobacco companies are obliged to sell cigarettes with graphic warnings on packs.

“Lobbying for this legislation has been going on for the last three years and will go down in history as one of the most difficult campaigns in Ukraine,” says Andriy Skipalskyi from Ukraine Smoke Free, a civic organization.

The graphic warnings law passed parliament in 2009, but implementation has been delayed through various measures until now.

Activists report that most cigarettes being sold now do not contain graphic warnings as the tobacco companies are selling what was manufactured before Oct. 4.

The new smoking rules have wide public support. Olena Dub from Smoke Free Kyiv civic organization gathered 500 signatures from waitresses and bartenders who suffer the most from second-hand smoking in restaurants.

“We were also working with owners of restaurants and bars and most of them support the smoking ban. It bears no costs for them as the only thing they will have to do is to put up ‘No Smoking’ signs and remove ashtrays,” Dub says.

Their profits will not be affected, either, experts say, and their businesses may even be helped by the return of patrons turned off by the health risks linked to exposure to second-hand smoke.

Partly because of the public health campaign, fewer Ukrainians smoke and fewer young people are starting.

According to the World Health Organization, 62 percent of men and 17 percent of women smoked every day in 2005. In 2010, the numbers went down to 45 percent men and 9 percent women.

This moved Ukraine from 4th to 29th place in a ranking of top smoking states, according to the WHO 2011 report.

Still, 8.6 million Ukrainians smoke, according to the State Statistics Service, down from 10.1 million in 2008. The mortality rate has also gone down in recent years, driven by a fall in smoke-related diseases.

A Kyiv International Sociology Institute survey shows 84 percent of Ukrainians approve of the indoor smoking ban, despite opposition from tobacco companies.

Tobacco companies say the ban discriminates against smokers.

“Taking into account the balance of interest of smokers and non-smokers, we think it would be more appropriate to have separate premises for smoking. We think this issue needs further discussions,” says Andriy Kryl, head of corporate and regulatory affairs at British American Tobacco in Ukraine.

Tobacco companies will likely fight back before the bill comes into effect on Dec. 16, public health activists warn. A draft law by Oleg Nadosha, a member of parliament with the pro-presidential Party of Regions, would cancel the ban.

The next battle is expected in parliament soon, as activists advocate for increased cigarettes taxes to make smoking less affordable. Tax increases have been shown to be the single most effective way to help smokers quit.

But a draft law passed by parliament in the first reading on Oct. 2 seems fairly modest. It foresees a Hr 0.10-0.15 price hike for the cheapest unfiltered cigarettes, while cheap filtered smokes will become only Hr 0.35 more costly and the most expensive cigarettes will go up by just Hr 0.25.

“So, overall, the price will increase about 2-7 percent, which would not affect consumption,” says Hanna Hopko, head of the Ukraine Free of Tobacco Smoke council of civic organizations.

Currently the cheapest filtered cigarettes cost approximately Hr 5, less than in the European Union and Russia.

According the WHO estimates, the tax on cigarettes has to be raised 50 percent to have a positive effect.

“In this case, the price for a pack of cigarettes will increase by 30 percent, which will drop the consumption by 12 percent. The state budget will benefit as well as the tax will bring Hr 22 billion compare to the current Hr 15.4 billion,” says Dr. Igor Pokanevych, head of the WHO Country Office in Ukraine.

“The experience of most developed nations is that smoking has to be prohibited in all public places. At the same time, the law contains a strict definition of what is a public place. So smoking will remain legal (in open areas),” Pokanevych says.

Kyiv Post staff writer Svitlana Tuchynska can be reached at [email protected]