Health ministry supports who's guidelines on banning use of ingredients in cigarette production
The Ministry of Health of Moldova (MoH) has supported the World Health Organization's (WHO) guidelines concerning the ban on the use of ingredients in the manufacture of tobacco products, adopted within the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Conference that took place in Uruguay in November.
The parties to the FCTC unanimously adopted series of decisions aimed at the strengthening of smoking control efforts worldwide.
The parties said that flavoring ingredients that increase attractiveness of tobacco products should be regulated in order to reduce the number of new smokers, especially among youth.
Representative of the National Health Center Ion Salaru, who represented Moldova in the conference, said to your Infotag correspondent that convention parties decided to make amendments to national legislations for banning the usage of ingredients in cigarette manufacture, besides those that are necessary for the tobacco processing.
"The guidelines of an international document must be reflected in national legislations, and then it will come into effect. Each country must decide - to regulate or not the ingredient use. Concerning the Moldova's position, we support the guidelines entirely. Moreover, we will submit a proposal for making amendments to the tobacco legislation, so these guidelines would be included in regulatory acts", Salaru said.
He said the MoH supports the WHO position, according to which additional ingredients increase cigarette toxicity and their ability to create dependence.
"According to investigations presented at the conference, 80% of people smoking ingredient-with-cigarettes are persons under 25 years. These ingredients make cigarettes more tasty and attractive. We hope, the guidelines that must be adopted will favor the reduction of number of smokers, especially among young people", Salaru said.
He said the ban on the use of ingredients in cigarette manufacture will not influence the biggest national producer, the Tutun CTC tobacco factory, because it does not use ingredients.
Infotag's dossier: There are used many different ingredients within the cigarette production process, which usage negatively influences the human organism. The WHO proposed banning all ingredients, as chemical, so food additives.
BBC News
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