MOSCOW, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Russia's State Duma has ratified a law on Friday on the country's accession to the World Health Organization's (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

    Within the framework of the convention, Russia will have to gradually ban all advertisements of tobacco products in five years. Warnings of potential health risks must take up no less than 30 percent of the cigarette pack's surface area. The document also envisions a gradual reduction of smoking in public places.

    Nikolai Gerasimenko, deputy chairman of the State Duma Health Protection Committee, told a press conference that "if 12 years ago 40-45 percent of men, 5-6 percent of women and 15 percent of teenagers smoked in Russia, now the number of smoking men reached 60 percent, women 27 percent, teenagers above 14 years 75 percent."

    Tobacco Control will allow to stop an outbreak of the smoking epidemic in the country, the deputy said.

    The convention was adopted at the 56th World Health Assembly in May 2003. Its purpose is to promote the introduction of a program on the prevention of the negative consequences of tobacco consumption. A total of 168 countries have already ratified the convention.