Today Verkhovna Rada will vote for anti-tobacco draft law №4358: why it’s important

Today, the Verkhovna Rada will vote for a comprehensive anti-tobacco draft law №4358. It's third on the agenda.

The Comprehensive Anti-Tobacco Draft Law №4358 introduces European requirements for the protection of the population from the harm of tobacco and electronic smoking devices in accordance with the European Integration Directive 2014/40/EU and the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Draft law 4358 will lay the foundation for a smokeless future for future generations.

Among the main innovations implemented by the draft law are:

• ban on smoking heating devices in all public places, as is the case with cigarettes (including schools, hospitals, restaurants, workplaces); the smokeless environment in Ukraine will be preserved;
• medical warnings on cigarette packs will have a picture on both sides and will increase to 65%; children and young people will better understand the effects of smoking;
• advertising, sales promotion and sponsorship of electronic smoking devices are eliminated; such a rule successfully works with tobacco products;
• the sale of tobacco products for electric heating (HTPs) to minors is prohibited.

According to the authors of the project, anti-tobacco legislation in Ukraine hasn't been updated for more than 9 years and needs to be changed to protect future generations from smoking. Given that 85,000 people die each year from smoking-related diseases in Ukraine, these additional deaths, illnesses, and earlier disability of smokers cost the Ukrainian economy more than $3 billion annually. Each day of slowing down the anti-tobacco draft law costs 233 lives for Ukraine.

Earlier it was reported that young people under the Rada organized a rally calling on parliamentarians to strengthen anti-tobacco legislation in Ukraine and adopt the draft law №4358.

The Rada deputies also called for the adoption of the anti-tobacco draft law №4358.

See more in our special project "Tobacco in Ukraine: who decides the fate of Ukrainians' health and market"