Cigarette Firms Pressuring Qatar to Remove Graphic Warnings

Source from:  The Peninsula  11/29/2013

Global cigarette companies are pressuring Qatar to remove the graphic warning labels on cigarette packets, indicating the positive impact of the country's efforts to fight smoking, a senior official of the Supreme Council of Health (SCH) said yesterday.

Currently there are about 51,000 smokers in Qatar (20.2 percent men, 3.1 percent women) aged 15 years above, who constitute 12.1 percent of the adult population in the country, according to the 2013 Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) released by the SCH yesterday.

Qataris constitute 10.5 percent of the total smokers (16,000 adults) against 12.9 percent non-Qataris (35,000 adults). Among Qataris, 21.3 percent of the smokers were men against 0.6 percent women. Among non-Qataris, 19.6 of the smokers were men against 4.6 percent women.

The number of cigarette smokers in the country has been found to be 10 percent of the adult population while 0.7 percent adults use smokeless tobacco products.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) survey was carried out by the SCH in collaboration with the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics among 8,571 Qatari and non-Qatari households, who were selected randomly from different parts of the country. Labour camps were not included in the survey.

The survey also found that 14,000 adults ( 3.4 percent) smoke Shisha (4.9 percent women and 1.6 percent women). Among Qataris, there were 4,000 adults smoking Shisha ( 5.3 percent men and 0.4 percent women) against 10,000 non-Qataris (4.8 percent men, 2.4 percent women).

Nearly 85 percent of men smoked Shisha in a café while about 63 percent of women used it at home.

Addressing a press conference at the SCH premises yesterday, Dr Mohammed Al Thani, Drector of the Public Health Department at SCH said that the survey has indicated a relatively low prevalence of smoking among the Qatari population, especially among women, thanks to the intensive anti-tobacco campaign in the country.

"Tobacco companies would target countries with low number of smokers to promote their business… They are putting pressure on Qatar to remove the graphic warning labels on cigarette packets," said Al Thani.

He added that the warnings have a crucial role in fighting smoking, as revealed by the survey. Among the current smokers, 51.4 percent thought about quitting because of a warning label on cigarette packs and 23.8 percent of Shisha smokers said the same.

Over half of the daily cigarette smokers smoke an average 17 cigarettes a day and more than two fifths of the smokers reported having their first smoke within half an hour after waking up. About 8.6 percent of the daily smokers (20 to 34 years old) started smoking before the age of 15 years and 45.5 percent started daily smoking before the age of 18 years.

Nearly 49 percent of the surveyed heard about electronic cigarettes, that remain banned in Qatar. Eight percent had bought it or seen others buying it. Only 2.8 percent had ever used an electronic cigarette and less than one percent are currently using them.

Overall, 66.8 percent of smokers were interested in quitting but only 38.2 percent of tobacco users had tried to quit at some time during the past 12 months. Overall, 12 percent of adults who worked indoors were exposed to passive smoking at work place while 16.8 percent were exposed at their homes, and 25.9 percent were exposed in restaurants.

About 96 percent of the surveyed believed smoking can cause serious illnesses and 85.9 percent supported increasing taxes on tobacco products.

Al Thani said the new anti-tobacco law which is currently before the Cabinet will give more teeth to SCH's anti-tobacco campaign. Dr Sheikha Al Anoud bin Mohammed Al Thani, director of Health Promotion and Non Communicable Diseases at SCH and other senior officials attended the press conference. Enditem