Russia's State Duma is considering a bill banning condoms, thermometers and other medical products from being advertised in the media.
The bill, posted on the parliament's website, follows on a measure that went into force earlier this year banning advertising for highly specialized medical products and procedures, such as CAT scans, which was thought to be ripe for repeal.
The authors of the current bill want to extend the measure to include advertisements for all medicinal products and services, limiting promotion to pharmaceutical conferences and media specifically targeting those within the medical field, Vedomosti reported Wednesday.
An explanatory note to the bill cites an unknown survey saying that a majority of Russians, 58 percent, favors self-treatment over a trip to the doctor, which, the note says, leads to 60,000 deaths in Russia every year.
But the proposed legislation also appears to ban promotion in the media of commonly-used and harmless medical items like condoms, pregnancy tests, thermometers and glucose monitors.
The bill devotes a large portion of its text to detailing how minors should be protected from access to advertisements for any means of terminating a pregnancy, looking to expand on a law banning abortion ads approved by President Vladimir Putin last November.
The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service told Vedomosti they did not support a total ban on medical advertising in mass media, voicing their support for the existing legislation.
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