By Natasha Toropova, Coordinator for Ukraine and Eastern Europe, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids

28 Oct 2008

Fall in Tbilisi is beautiful: changing leaves, crisp air, sheer blue sky, bright sun and fresh wind make you feel happy and able to believe in only the best.

I am riding in a cab to meet my friends in Charden, known as the "Georgian Paris". We are driving through the golden alleys of magnificent poplar trees, incongruously interrupted every ten meters by huge bill boards advertising tobacco.

My taxi driver lights a cigarette. Seeing my disapproving look, he asks if I mind. "I do mind, and you should mind killing yourself," I say. "No sense in worrying," is his answer. "I have been smoking for the last 20 years and suffering from numerous diseases, but I can't quit. No sense..."

Twenty minutes later I enter an elegant café in Charden containing about fifteen customers, all but three of whom are smoking. The air is dark grey and my eyes start to itch.

A waiter gives me a suspicious and surprised look when I ask if there is a non-smoking room. "Why would you need it? Every one smokes anyway, so there is no sense in worrying," he says.

I struggle to answer the waiter's question. Why does this proud country of such beautiful and intelligent people continue to lose 11,000 people each year to the entirely preventable tobacco epidemic? The war in Abkhazia of the 1990s took fewer lives than the tobacco epidemic claims in one year during peacetime.

When will the government of Georgia - which so passionately declares its commitment to the nation -declare war on tobacco? Thirty-six percent of Georgians smoke.

Tobacco consumption by youth in Georgia tripled over the last five years, especially among young women. Georgia's women and youth fall victim to the "glamorous" image of tobacco so well promoted by the tobacco industry, an industry that cares only about the billions of dollars of profits built on the rising death toll.

People are in desperate need of protection from tobacco's blow, and the government of Georgia elected and trusted by them owes this protection to its people. In February, 2006 Georgia ratified the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) - the world's only international treaty dedicated to a public health issue - having taken its lead from the international community.

Despite this apparent commitment to take action on tobacco, Parliament is moving too slowly to approve a draft law amending the Tobacco Control Law and Ad Ban Law containing initiatives vitally important to the Georgian people.

With any luck the bill will be considered this November. I want to believe that the President of the country, the Prime Minister and the Parliament will show the political will to push the bill through. This is their chance to prove they care about Georgia.

Some may say Georgia has more important things to worry about. But what can be more important than the health of the people? If the government takes the measures legally mandated under the FCTC - including raising prices by increasing taxes, advertising bans, smoke-free public places, and stronger health warnings on tobacco packs - it will save lives and money.

Fiscal benefits will be realized by increasing tax rates, clamping down on smuggling, and making administrative changes. The brand of cigarettes smoked by the largest number of people in Georgia costs 1 Lari, while a bar of chocolate is 1.2 Lari. Which will a teenager spend her money on? This is a tricky question that the politicians regulating tobacco prices must ask themselves.

Tobacco control activists in Georgia advocate for pictorial pack warnings that cover fifty percent of both sides of cigarette packs. Currently the size of pack warnings is only five percent, which puts Georgia way behind other countries of the former Soviet Union.

Kyrgyzstan recently passed a resolution for pictorial pack warnings covering fifty percent of the pack. Should Georgia be behind?

Smoke-free public places is another essential issue to think about. Georgia promotes itself as a tourist-friendly, European country. Yet tourists these days don't want to put up with smoky air. Georgia's genuine hospitality, picturesque landscape, divine wine and incredible food should be complemented by a smoke free environment.

The citizens of Georgia deserve smoke-free hospitals, education buildings, public transport and other public places. Smoke-free public places will benefit Georgia's public health and the economy.
The draft tobacco control bill contains provisions for a total tobacco advertising ban.

Evidence shows that such a measure would decrease tobacco consumption by 9 percent and help to reverse the tobacco epidemic.

If the Georgian government chooses to support the current draft, it will prove its commitment to the people of Georgia instead of an industry dedicated entirely to addicting people to a lethal product. Such a move will also demonstrate Georgia's readiness to integrate with Europe by complying with its international obligations.

The "no sense" attitude of Georgia's people and the government must be shifted into a new era in which they finally see sense.