Stub Out Cigarettes for Good

Source from:  China Daily; North American ed.  06/01/2004

Smoking inflames poverty in poor countries as people sacrifice food and education for cigarettes, the World Health Organization (WHO) said late last week, urging governments to implement stricter tobacco rules. "Every 6.5 seconds one person dies and many others fall ill or suffer diseases and disability due to tobacco use," WHO chief Lee Jong-wook said in a statement released ahead of yesterday's World No Tobacco Day. "This is occurring mostly in developing countries, adding significantly to their burden of disease and poverty. The world cannot accept such easily preventable human and economic losses." People with less education tend to spend more on cigarettes, the WHO said. A study in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, found a smoking prevalence of 26 per cent among people with four or less years of study, compared with 17 per cent among those with nine or more years of schooling. In addition, poor people use a higher percentage of their household income on satisfying cravings for nicotine, the WHO said. Some 10.5 million malnourished people in Bangladesh, for example, would have a sufficient diet if two-thirds of the money that is wasted on tobacco in the country was spend on food, the Geneva- based health authority said. The link between tobacco and poverty was the theme for World No Tobacco Day yesterday, to help raise awareness to the dangers involved. A lack of information on healthy living, coupled with successful advertising campaigns by the tobacco industry and addiction to nicotine, convince poor people to spend what little money they have on cigarettes, the WHO said. In addition, despite industry claims that tobacco provides vital employment benefits for the developing world, the organization argued that tobacco farmers were exploited, exposing themselves to harmful pesticides in return for insufficient payment. An increase in tobacco production has cut prices, also hurting farmers. In contrast, cigarette giants Japan Tobacco, Philip Morris/ Altria and British American Tobacco enjoyed combined revenues of US$121 billion (99 billion euros) in 2002 - greater than the total gross domestic product of a list of 27 poor countries that include Jordan, Uganda and Zimbabwe. On a country basis, smoking increases poverty levels by raising health costs, crippling members of the workforce and harming the environment. The health body urged governments to sign the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco, which was adopted last year to reduce consumption by offering previsions on several issues such as advertising, labelling as well as tax and price increases. To date, 118 of the WHO's 192 member states have signed the treaty - the signature period is open until June 29, 2004 - and 16 countries have ratified it, but 40 ratifications are required to bring the framework into force. "We will need enthusiasm, persistence and political commitment to ensure that the convention enters into force and is implemented within countries," Lee said. "By helping to control the tobacco epidemic we will be contributing to higher standards of living and health worldwide." An estimated 5 million people a year - most of them poor - die from diseases linked to tobacco, according to the WHO, which said 84 per cent of the world's smokers are from developing countries. With the number of smokers seen rising from 1.3 billion people to 1.7 billion in 2025, about 650 million people alive today will be killed by tobacco if current trends persist, the WHO said. EU tightening ban All European Union (EU) countries have adopted some legislation against smoking, but none go as far as Norway, not a EU member, which imposes a total ban on smoking in public places today, or Ireland, where a ban went into force two months earlier. Most rules concern public places or the workplace, tobacco advertising or the sale of cigarettes to minors, and they range from permissive to very strict. Following are snapshots of anti-tobacco rules across Europe. Public places Except for Britain and Germany, all EU members have adopted measures to limit tobacco use in public places, including official buildings, schools, public transport, bars and restaurants, in line with an EU resolution dating from 1989. A complete ban on smoking in public places went into force in Ireland on March 29. Sweden is expected to tighten its anti-tobacco legislation next year. France allows people to light up in specially designated areas. Britain has launched a national debate which is likely to lead to a draft law, but no timetable has been set. In Germany, owners or managers of public places get to decide on smoking rules, but most public places have non-smoking zones. Protecting non-smokers is also an obligation for employers. In the Netherlands, smoking is banned in the workplace, unless the employer sets up special smoking zones, which have to be equipped with smoke extractors. No legislation concerning smoking in the workplace exists in Luxembourg or Denmark, where companies are free to make their own rules. The same goes for Portugal, but the government is preparing a ban on tobacco at work. Restaurants throughout the EU have to have non-smoking areas, except in Luxembourg or Spain, where there are no rules in the matter. Among new EU members, Hungary bans smoking in the workplace, except if there is a special smoking area. Advertising An EU directive calling for a ban on tobacco companies advertising in the media, sponsoring cultural or sporting events, or distributing free tobacco samples by July next year at the latest, is already widely respected across the union. Poland imposed a complete ban on tobacco advertising in 1999. Luxembourg allows outdoor ads, as well as in the press, so long as they carry the mention "seriously damages your health." Greece has banned tobacco advertising temporarily around the Athens Olympic Games, between May 1 and November 1, but will apply the EU directive permanently by the 2005 deadline. All EU countries, and also Norway, force tobacco companies to issue health warnings on packets, and some countries are considering adding photographs of tobacco-damaged human organs or nicotine- stained teeth on cigarette packs. Minors Selling cigarettes to people under 16 is forbidden in Austria, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Britain, France and the Baltic countries. In Sweden, Portugal, Finland and Poland tobacco cannot be sold to under-18s. But the widespread use of coin-operated cigarette machines, especially in Spain, Germany, Portugal and British pubs, help undermine those rules. In Italy, cigarette machines are only allowed to operate between 9 pm and 7 am to limit access of underage smokers. A Danish law against selling cigarettes to children under 16 goes into force on July 1, and Belgium and Greece are envisaging similar measures. Britain and Luxembourg have no plans to limit children's access to tobacco products. In an effort to make it more difficult for young people to get hold of cigarettes, Germany's parliament on May 6 voted to prohibit the sale of packs containing fewer than 17 cigarettes. Norway as a model The Norwegian Government launched a new anti-tobacco campaign last Tuesday, a week before a law banning all smoking in public places, including bars, restaurants and discos, goes into effect yesterday. "Welcome to Norway. The only thing we smoke here is salmon," posters issued by the Ministry of Health read, as the Scandinavian nation prepares to become the second country in the world after Ireland to introduce a total smoking ban in all public places. "This law does not aim to reduce the number of smokers, but aspires to ensure that employees in restaurants and bars have a smoke-free work environment," explained Norwegian Health Minister Dagfinn Hoeybraaten, pointing out that such employees are the only ones still exposed to cigarette smoke in the workplace. Since parliament adopted the no-smoking law in May 2003, "many people have stopped smoking and many more say they have resolved to quit and that, of course, is a positive secondary effect" of the law, Hoeybraaten told a handful of reporters in Oslo. The number of Norwegian adults who smoke has, according to official figures, dropped from 29 per cent in 2002 to 26 per cent last year. This means, Hoeybraaten said, that 100,000 smokers have kicked the habit and stubbed out their cigarettes for good. Smoking damages sea life Smokers are turning coastlines into a giant death trap for marine wildlife, prompting calls for smoking bans on beaches similar to measures being introduced in the US and Australia. An authoritative survey of the United Kingdom's beaches reveals that over the past year there has been a sharp rise in the number of cigarette butts being discarded, with potentially fatal consequences for birds, mammals and fish. Wildlife groups say the butts, containing a form of plastic called cellulose acetate, can last for up to 100 years and pose serious risks to animals. Figures published by the Marine Conservation Society show that last year there was a 25 per cent rise in the number of discarded butts collected by its volunteers in Britain, an increase that has alarmed the charity. During one weekend in September, volunteers collected 14,659 butts from 244 beaches - the equivalent of 109 stubs for every kilometre. The previous year the society collected around 11,000 butts, or 86.7 for every kilometre, suggesting more and more smokers are failing to clean up their litter. The figures represent only a tiny fraction of the total number of dog ends which litter Britain's 1,400 beaches. The scale of measuring the problem makes it difficult to paint a true picture but it is likely to be far higher than many people realize if evidence from other countries is taken into consideration. New list for tobacco ills US Surgeon General Richard Carmona added to a list of ailments caused by tobacco - 40 years after the list was first released. "We've known for decades that smoking is bad for your health, but this report shows that it's even worse," Carmona said. "The toxins from cigarette smoke go everywhere the blood flows. I'm hoping this new information will help motivate people to quit smoking and convince young people not to start in the first place." Carmona's report added leukemia, cataracts, pneumonia and cancers of the colon, uterus, kidney and stomach. Smoking kills about 440,000 people in the United States each year. Men who smoke reduce their life expectancy by 13.2 years and women by 14.5. The report posts the cost of cigarette smoking at US$157 billion annually, of which US$75 billion is for medical costs and US$82 billion is for losses in productivity. Smoking also weakens bone, complicates diabetes, increases post- surgical infections and decreases fertility, the study said. "There is no safe cigarette, whether it is called 'light,' 'ultra- light,' or any other name," the study said. "The science is clear: The only way to avoid the health hazards of smoking is to quit completely or to never start smoking." In 1964, a surgeon general's report for the first time linked smoking with lung and larynx cancer. Since then, smoking has been tied to cancers in the mouth, throat and cardiovascular diseases. The US president names the surgeon general to lead the nation on public health matters. Enditem