[ti:Russian Prime Minister Calls for Ban on Smoking in Public] [ar:] [al:Health Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report in Special English. [00:06.21]Hundreds of thousands of Russians die every year [00:10.81]from diseases linked to smoking. [00:14.39]The country has one of the highest smoking rates in the world. [00:19.43]The World Health Organization estimates that [00:23.14]forty percent of adults in Russia smoke. [00:26.44]That is about forty-four million people. [00:30.25]The WHO says China leads the world in tobacco smoking rates. [00:35.71]It says Russia is second. [00:38.90]Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev wants to [00:42.95]reduce the number of smokers in his country. [00:45.95]He has proposed a ban on smoking in public places by twenty-fifteen, [00:52.24]and a ban on all tobacco advertising. [00:56.39]And he wants to increase the country's very low cigarette taxes -- [01:01.78]in Russia, a pack of cigarettes can cost between one and two dollars. [01:08.33]Mr. Medvedev appeared in an Internet video about the issue. [01:14.28]He said Russians must stop smoking. [01:17.73]He said about ninety percent of Russian smokers [01:22.22]begin smoking before they reach the age of twenty. [01:26.19]He said smoking kills about four hundred thousand people in Russia each year. [01:33.18]He likened the loss of life [01:36.19]to a large city disappearing from the country's map. [01:40.50]In the video, Mr. Medvedev also warned about the way smoking kills. [01:53.56]He described long and painful deaths from cancer or emphysema, [02:00.07]as well as sudden deaths from heart attack and stroke. [02:04.47]The number of Russian women who smoke [02:08.91]has increased sharply in the past twenty years. [02:12.52]In nineteen ninety-two about seven percent of Russian women smoked. [02:19.03]Twenty-two percent do now. [02:23.23]Vladimir lives in Moscow. [02:26.27]He supports the prime minister's proposals to ban smoking in public. [02:30.87]Vladimir says he does not smoke [02:36.67]and does not approve of people smoking in public places. [02:41.12]However, many Russians say they will continue to smoke [02:46.78]even if there is a ban. They say laws against smoking [02:52.78]violate their right to make their own decisions about their health. [02:57.29]Prime Minister Medvedev says a bill putting the ban [03:02.13]in place should be approved quickly. [03:05.04]Mr. Medvedev says "I will be direct -- [03:10.48]this document is important for every Russian." [03:14.59]A Russian health ministry official [03:17.95]told the Interfax news agency [03:20.90]that the government wants to cut the smoking rate in half. [03:25.11]The upper and lower houses of parliament must consider the bill. [03:31.37]Many experts say the government does not have enforcement power [03:36.32]even if lawmakers pass the measure.