Saudi Arabia: Sue Tobacco Companies Once Again

Source from:  Saudi Gazette 11/23/2015

Everyone claims to be combating smoking, but the reality is only a few are genuinely trying to reduce the unhealthy habit.

In a previous article, I said we must assign the task of combating smoking to committees whose members do not smoke and to officials who are nonsmokers if we really want to achieve success in this direction.

Imagine 44 percent of Kingdom's male doctors and 17 percent of female doctors are smokers, according to figures from Naqa Society, a nonprofit combating tobacco addiction. Do you think you will listen to the advice of a doctor who is a smoker to stop smoking? I think it will be almost impossible for a doctor to convince a patient to quit smoking when he himself smokes.

Everyday several of our young men and women become new smokers and we don't seem to be able to contain this epidemic. We keep repeating what the World Health Organization (WHO) said nearly three years ago that Saudi Arabia is fourth in the world in terms of consuming tobacco and its derivatives. Furthermore, it said the number of smokers in the country has reached 6 million.

We claim to be ideal in terms of fighting smoking, but the real situation is painful. One can see how serious it is from the number of new smokers, including women and children, despite the lack of real statistics that show the magnitude of the problem. What we have now are mainly personal opinions of some researchers. There are studies saying that the number of smokers in the Kingdom will exceed 10 million by 2020. Despite this, nobody is providing practical solutions.

In the back corridors, rumors are circulating of deals being concluded in several countries between tobacco companies and other parties who benefit from the sale of tobacco in order to close their eyes to the sale of cigarettes of all kinds. The objective is to ensure that no lawsuits are filed against such companies in any country.

The Saudi Ministry of Health is called upon today, more than at any time in the past, to raise the case against tobacco companies and bring it to the forefront of discussions once again. The ministry should demand payment of compensations due to the financial and human losses resulting from smoking. At present the state is bearing the treatment expenses for smoking-related diseases, despite the fact that those responsible are known, can be held accountable and taken to task.

The Ministry of Health cannot face tobacco companies alone in Saudi courts if it is not supported by other government and private authorities to confront them.

For many years now, the state has shouldered huge expenses and lost many capable people due to tobacco use. I think it is a religious and national duty to reconsider the issue of compensations. It is also necessary to lodge new lawsuits, because all that we have obtained is an unjust settlement. Enditem