Namibia: Trade, Health Discuss Tobacco Control

Source from:  The Namibian  02/07/2013

HEALTH Minister Richard Kamwi yesterday blamed the tobacco industry for hampering the implementation of the tobacco control law adopted in 2010, saying African countries should take lessons from Australia which successfully challenged the powerful tobacco sector in court last year.
 
"The tobacco industry has been using various tactics to delay and derail our efforts [to implement the regulations of the Tobacco Products Control Act]," said Kamwi, and drawing from the success of the Australian legal challenge, said: "There is no way we can be held hostage if we know tobacco kills our nationals."
 
A consultative meeting is currently taking place in Windhoek with stakeholders from 10 African countries and representatives in Australia under the auspices of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
 
WHO country representative Madga Robalo said the consultation is to bridge the gap between the health and trade sectors after disputes at the WHO highlighted the legal constraints international trade agreements impose on WHO member states in implementing tobacco control measures.
 
Despite resistance from the tobacco industry, Robalo said some progress has been made in terms of the control of tobacco use.
 
Of the 170 countries that have ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, of which Namibia is one, 23 countries in the region have banned smoking in public spaces. However, only five countries worldwide have met the obligation on the health warnings on cigarette packs.
 
"We are struggling to implement the law," Robalo acknowledged.
 
Kamwi said it is important for the health and trade sectors to collaborate in the implementation of tobacco control regulations because the tobacco industry has started to engage in legal battles with governments to stop the enforcement of these regulations.
 
British American Tobacco Namibia (BAT) has expressed reservations over the tobacco control regulations which propose graphic health warnings covering 60% of the front and back of cigarette packets, saying that it would have the "unintended consequence of unnecessarily or unreasonably prejudicing the trade of a legal product".
 
In its challenge of the anti-smoking regulations, BAT said it sells 330 million cigarettes in Namibia annually, and employs about 5 000 people directly and indirectly, while it serves 2 000 retailers and wholesalers and "thousands" of informal traders.
 
But the health sector is adamant that there is a clear correlation between tobacco smoking and cancer.
 
Ninety percent of lung cancer cases are attributed to tobacco smoking.
 
Kamwi said studies conducted on tobacco smoking in Namibia are worrying. According to the 2002 studies, 22,8% of Namibian men and 21,9% of women older than 18 were smokers. Enditem