Penza, 15 November 2012. PenzaNews. The member of the Public Chamber of the Penza region, head physician of the drug clinic “Panatsea” Sergey Degtyar commented on the bill prepared by the Ministry of Health of Russia dealing with a set of measures to restrict sales of tobacco products.

© PenzaNewsBuy the photo

“The bill under review will give a certain positive result. At the same time, it has many “blurry” moments. The responsibility for the sale of cigarettes to teenagers should be stricter. The proposed measure to remove all the pavilions selling cigarettes within 50 meters of the educational and social institutions will reduce the availability of the product, but it is not the solution. It is my firm belief that alcohol and cigarettes should be sold in specialized stores, where teenagers would not be allowed. This is practiced in the rest of the civilized world,” Sergey Degtyarev said.

In his opinion, it is necessary to introduce state management of tobacco and alcohol trade.

“Then it will be possible to saturate the market with quality products under state control,” the agency interlocutor noted. He also promotes the idea of limited smoking areas, which are under no condition to be found in healthcare institutions.

“There is no serious monitoring in the Penza region. It is almost impossible to count the number of cigarettes sold in the region. We do not keep proper statistics of smoking pupils, students, adults and pregnant women, their age and reasons for smoking. I believe that both regional and state government should be engaged in dealing with the problem. It needs funding, and the way out will be found,” the agency interlocutor concluded.

“Anti-tobacco” bill prepared by the Ministry of Health of Russia provides a complete ban on smoking in public places from 1 January 2015. In addition, the bill states the matter of banning the sale of cigarettes in pavilions, and demonstrating tobacco products and smoking process in the new audiovisual works intended for children.