Malawi Farmers'' Livelihood to Go up in Smoke as Chile Bans Public Puffing

Source from:  MaraviPost.com (mw)  04/07/2013

Chile's ban on smoking in public places could affect Malawi whose main forex earner is tobacco.

"We're very concerned with the smoking ban in Chile, in Russia and other countries have also proposed similar bans," Malawi's Tobacco Control Commission (TCC) chief executive officer Bruce Munthali told The Nation newspaper.

"Tobacco farmers as any other person have a right to economic livelihood and these bans will certainly affect them. Anything that has a reduction in the demand for cigarettes has an effect on the demand for tobacco. Malawi is greatly affected when the ban affects burley tobacco because we grow a lot of it," Munthali  says.

Chile has the highest smoking rates in the world. According to the Tobacco Atlas, nearly 40 percent of girls aged 13-15 in Santiago, Chile's capital, smoke cigarettes, a rise from just 20 percent in 2003.

The ban in public places is seen by many as a total ban on smoking because most public venues in Chile do not have outdoor terraces and thus demand for cigarettes is expected to drop.

Munthali says TCC wants something done about such bans.

"We've been asking government to voice our concerns at the World Trade Organisation \[WTO] and the World Health Organisation \[WHO] because the smoking bans are technical barriers to trade," said Munthali. Enditem