BAT helping Kazakhstan with program to prevent minors from smoking..

July 10, 2009 - The new program on prevention of sale of tobacco to minors has started in Kazakhstan (Kazakh) , the agency reports citing British American Tobacco (BAT).

According to the company, to solve the problem of smoking of minors in Kazakhstan the new program on receiving permission for retail sale having the slogan: "not to sell cigarettes to people under 18". During the campaign, the materials containing signes "We do not sell tobacco products to people under 18" will be displayed in all retail stores of the country.

The materials of the campaign such as stickers, posters and emblems, will be displayed in all shops of the country from July, 2009 and retail sellers will be trained to efficiently carry out the campaign. "The materials for shops have been issued and created individually for each person interested in the campaign, while the other materials have been specially made to deliver the necessary information to the people."

Launched in 1998, there has been a a very active youth smoking prevention coalition in Kazakhstan to combat underage smoking, which was initiated by the tobacco companies working in Kazakhstan—JTI, Philip Morris, Gallaher and BAT—jointly with the ministry of education and science and the ministry of culture and sport.

Competition for sales within the Kazakh tobacco market is fierce—with JTI, Gallaher, BAT, Philip Morris, Reemtsma and Korean Tobacco all continually fighting for a better market position.

Smoking is a major public health issue in Kazakhstan and other former soviet union countries particularly affecting socially vulnerable men and young women living in urbanized areas. These high-risk groups should be targeted in future smoking prevention and cessation strategies in the region. (RESEARCH REPORT Determinants of smoking in eight countries of the former Soviet Union: results from the Living Conditions, Lifestyles and Health Study)

Kazakhstan ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Treaty in January 2007. WHO - Kazakhstan - Health..

References: The new program on prevention of sale of tobacco to minors has started in Kazakhstan, the agency reports citing British American Tobacco (BAT)
Kazakhstan Today, 7/9/2009; How the East Was Won: BAT and Big Tobacco's Conquest of the Former Soviet Union, Red_Orbit/com, 8/5/2005; Kazakhstan restricts tobacco marketing freedoms, Laurence Walker, Tobacco Reporter, Archived Issue, 9/2006.

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