We Hope the National Assembly Will Not Leave the Country as a 'Regional Ashtray': Arsen Torosyan

Today, the discussion of our 'anti-tobacco' legislation will take place in the National Assembly's Economic Issues Committee. This was stated by Health Minister Arsen Torosyan on his Facebook page.

Torosyan reminded that prior to this, a number of discussions have taken place with all factions in the National Assembly, as well as in the Health and Social Issues Committee. 'During the discussions, we have comprehensively and substantively presented the necessity of adopting such a bill, both for health and economic reasons. Today, we will do that again, although this law is primarily about public health and not about the economy.'

'Unfortunately, some of our colleagues, being smokers and having a nicotine addiction—by the way, which can pass quite quickly—or for other reasons, have not been able to completely set aside their unhealthy motivations against the necessity of adopting this law and have tried in every way to indicate that the law is 'premature and that our society is not ready for it, that it does not take into account the negative impact on citizens, that the interests of tobacco growers or those working in the industry are not considered, that electronic cigarettes are safe and should not be equated with regular cigarettes, or even that the connection between smoking and cancer has not been proven.' Of course, it was quite absurd to hear this from our colleagues in the National Assembly rather than from tobacco producers. However, it is what it is.'

'We are nonetheless very determined on this issue and hope that the National Assembly will place Armenia among the countries that think about the health of their own citizens and will not leave it as an so-called 'regional ashtray' or 'tobacco paradise,'' he wrote.