Kyrgyz Parliament passes smoking advertisement ban

Kyrgyz Parliament passed a law forbidding any smoking advertisement in mass media.

According to Marat Mambetov, the Kyrgyz Healthcare Minister, the statistics shows that implementation of this kind of law usually reduces cigarettes’ demand by 25%, especially among youth. The prohibition has already existed for radio and television. Now it is being introduced for the printed press as well.

In addition, parliamentarians banned smoking in all public places, occupied by state bodies and local self-administrations.

Answering the question, why the Health Ministry does not control overall selling of cigarettes on the streets, Marat Mambetov said that the agency was not able to control observance of the law independently. Primarily the law allowed smoking in specially organized places, creation of which soon appeared to be impossible. This is the reason why smoking is prohibited in all state offices.