Tobacco Warehouse Plan for Philippines Blasted

Source from:  gulf-times.com 18 September, 2007 09/19/2007

A regional tobacco-control organisation yesterday lambasted plans by cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris to set up a multi-million dollar warehouse in the Philippines to store tobacco leaves from plantations in Asia. The South-East Asia Tobacco Control Alliance warned that the planned investment only showed that Philip Morris and other tobacco companies were "moving relentlessly to exploit new markets for their deadly products." The alliance urged the Philippines and other South-East Asian countries to adopt strong tobacco-control measures to protect the health of their citizens, saying Philip Morris' plan should be a wake-up call. "We cannot win the fight against tobacco and tobacco companies without strong measures of the government," said Mary Assunta, the alliance's fellowship programme coordinator with the 10-country Association of South-East Asian Nations. "We call upon governments to put their people first and quickly adopt and enforce tobacco-control policies." In July, Philip Morris announced plans to build a regional hub in the Subic Bay free-port zone, 90km north of Manila, where tobacco leaf harvests from South-East Asia would be stored. It said it would invest $20mn to $80mn for the project. Last week, the Philippine government said the regional leaf warehouse investment of Philip Morris could reach up to $600mn. The alliance noted that the regional warehouse would enhance leaf-distribution in the region, where cigarettes are already cheaper because of a free-trade agreement among South-East Asian countries. "Efficient distribution and lower tobacco prices will result in higher smoking prevalence in the region, which in turn, increases tobacco-related deaths and diseases," it warned. According to the World Health Organisation, smoking is responsible for about 5mn deaths a year worldwide, 20% of which are recorded in Asia. It warned that the death toll from smoking in Asia was expected to increase fourfold by 2030. Enditem