More warnings on harm of smoking to be applied on packets of cigarettes in Moldova

Chisinau, 26 July /MOLDPRES/ - The government, at a today’s meeting, approved a sanitary regulation on health warnings and labeling the tobacco products. According to the regulation, more information on the harm of smoking will be applied on each packet or any exterior package of the native or imported tobacco products.  
Under the document, the health warnings should occupy the entire area reserved to this end and cannot be commented, paraphrased or accompanied by other texts or pictures. They are printed, so that they are clear and ensure visibility and graphic integrity and they are made with paint which cannot be wiped off. The placement on market of tobacco products, on the packets of which no health warnings are applied, is banned.
The general warning includes the text „Fumatul ucide. Renunță acum!” (Smoking Kills. Give Up Now!), as well as information message „Fumul de tutun conține peste 70 de substanțe ce cauzează cancer” (Tobacco Smoking Contains over 70 Substances Causing Cancer). The list of textual warnings, which is changed annually, includes 14 warnings: ”Fumatul cauzează accidente vasculare cerebrale şi infirmitate” (Smoking Causes Cerebral Vascular Accidents and Infirmity), “Fumatul blochează arterele” (Smoking Blocks Arteries), ”Renunţaţi la fumat și rămîneţi în viaţă pentru cei dragi” (Give Up Smoking and Remain Alive for Your Dear) and others.  
The Health Ministry maintains, by placing on the ministry’s webpage, the electronic library of health warnings.
The consumption of tobacco products represents one of the principal major risk factors, with 12 per cent of all deaths registered triggered by this vice, which is considered to be a national problem. The annual spending for health related to the diseases triggered by the tobacco consumption is estimated to more than one billion lei.     
It is worth mentioning that the regulation is a new normative act elaborated in the tobacco control field, in order to ensure a high level of health’s protection. The document’s adoption is part of the process of the national legislation’s approximation to the European Union’s one.    
(Reporter V. Bercu, editor L. Alcaza)