Tobacco.org

R1000 fine for tossing burning cigarette 

Tossing a burning cigarette out of a moving vehicle can now cost you a R1000 fine, the City of Cape Town said.

This was in a bid to curb veld fires in the hot, dry and windy weather in the region, said Fire and Rescue Station Commander Denzel Ramedies in a statement.

The move was also a reminder of the Fire Safety Amendment by-law, which regulates fire safety in the metropole, in an effort to avoid blazes such as the recent week-long veld fires in Gordons Bay.

The by-law was promulgated last year to discourage people from throwing lit cigarette butts out of moving vehicles.

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'Big tobacco firms now targeting Africa' 

Africa has become the main target of tobacco corporations that are being driven out of developed countries by tougher laws, high taxes and more consumer awareness of the dangers of smoking.

A conference aimed at curbing the spread of tobacco products worldwide, convened by the World Health Organisation, starts in Durban, South Africa, on Monday.

This is the third meeting of the organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a treaty that already has the support of 160 countries and binds signatories to measures aimed at cutting down on smoking - a major cause of several illnesses, particularly cancer.

The organisation says tobacco use kills about 5,5-million people every year, with 70 percent of deaths occurring in developing countries.

"African countries are experiencing the highest increase in the rate of tobacco use among developing countries.

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Plans for a smoke-free World Cup 

South Africa's tough anti-smoking legislation will not be relaxed for the 2010 soccer World Cup. Instead, the health department is working to ensure that the world's biggest sporting event is smoke-free.

Health Director-General Thami Mseleku confirmed on Monday that the department was negotiating with Fifa's local organising committee to get its approval to ensure that soccer venues would be non-smoking areas.

"They did it in Japan...stadiums should be treated as closed areas," said Mseleku.

He was speaking at the start of the week-long conference of the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

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'I want to live longer' 

Wally's back and better than ever. After undergoing open-heart surgery live on television, Wally Katzke, 52, has turned his life around, embarking on a new regime of healthy eating, regular exercise, and not smoking.

The change is visible in his glowing skin, improved physique, and the smile that shows itself more readily. He's gained 8kg by eating three meals a day and doing cardiovascular exercises three to four times a week.

At hospital on the morning of his operation he put out his last cigarette. "It's bloody difficult, you crave," he said. "But you think about something else."

What motivates him? "Longevity. I want to live longer." . . .

He was told he'd have to undergo open-heart surgery, and was warned that if he didn't make the necessary lifestyle changes, he'd end up with the same problem a few years later, only his treatment options would be fewer.

Then Wally agreed to make history by taking part in South Africa's first live telecast of open-heart surgery in August.

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Smokers brace for grim warnings 

November 18 2008 at 07:17AM

Smokers will soon be confronted with grim pictures of people with cancer and rotten teeth when they buy their cigarettes, according to Health Minister Barbara Hogan.

Opening the World Health Organisation's (WHO) meeting on tobacco control in Durban on Monday, Hogan praised the National Council of Provinces for passing a bill last week that will allow pictorial warnings on cigarette packages.

"Pictorial warnings on tobacco products will assist those who cannot read to make informed decisions about smoking," Hogan said.

About 600 delegates from 100 countries have come to South Africa to refine an international treaty, called the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

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Watchful eye on smokers 

Environmental health practitioners of the Health Unit of eThekwini Municipality have recently been visiting hotels, restaurants, night clubs and taverns to ensure that the regulations of the new Tobacco Control Amendment Act are being complied with.

Inspections are being carried out during the day and after normal working hours at night. Metro Police officers are accompanying the officials.

Umar Singh, Food Safety Manager of the eThekwini Health Unit, said this was necessitated due to a large number of complaints being received by the municipality.

Singh said that the fines are "not substantial" at present.

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• A wisp of public-spiritedness 

SOME people would say it was tantamount to foxes asking to be consulted about the welfare of chickens. But the global tobacco industry, while no longer denying that its products do terrible damage, has long insisted that in any discussion about how to limit the medical effects of the weed, it is a legitimate partner.

That claim was emphatically rejected by health officials from 160 countries after a week's deliberation in South Africa which concluded on November 22nd. In a statement that grew steadily tougher in the course of the meeting--to the dismay of cigarette firms and the delight of their adversaries--it was proclaimed that there is a "fundamental and irreconcilable conflict" between the interests of the tobacco industry and the cause of public health.

In a non-binding but morally powerful set of guidelines, it was also laid down that interaction between governments and tobacco firms should be limited to what is "strictly necessary" and kept transparent through public hearings and disclosure of records; voluntary or non-enforceable arrangements should be barred. In other words, anything that could make tobacco firms look like decent citizens, doing their bit for public service, ought to be avoided. . . .

Richard Burr, a senator from North Carolina, calls the treaty a surrender of sovereignty which would punish the United States by forcing it to fund the lion's share of a global anti-tobacco drive with no corresponding rise in influence. Moreover, he says, the drafters of the treaty refused to listen to the "producers of tobacco"--a sure sign that their purpose was not "to bring a safer product to market" but to eliminate the production of tobacco altogether.

On the last point, at least, tobacco's sternest foes might concur with the senator. However, some American legislators have taken a different view. In 2005 a group of 11 senators wrote to George Bush urging him to send over the tobacco treaty for consideration; they noted that tobacco claims more than 400,000 American lives a year. One of the signatories was a senator whose appealingly husky voice may owe something to his own weakness for the weed--Barack Obama.

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Don't follow extremism, government urged 

Efforts by governments to reduce the health impact of tobacco could go badly wrong and make the huge illegal tobacco trade even worse if regulation is pushed by pressure groups to extreme measures, British American Tobacco's chief executive Paul Adams said in a statement on Monday.

Adams made the comment in response to a global World Health Organisation meeting in South Africa at the weekend.

The meeting adopted various guidelines to be positioned as best practice for governments in tobacco policy-making.

According to Adams, the guidelines suggested that the government should ban almost all communication by tobacco companies as well as minimise government contact with tobacco companies.

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Bid to curb influence of tobacco giants 

Countries represented at the World Health Organisation (WHO) tobacco-control treaty conference in Durban last week set new guidelines to try to stop tobacco firms influencing health policy.

This came just days after Parliament passed SA’s Tobacco Products Control Amendment Bill, prompting calls from antitobacco campaigners for the government to start work on new amendments to bring the law in line with the agreement.

The guidelines say governments should reject partnerships with the tobacco industry . . .

Campaigners say the bill does not go far enough to curb the tobacco groups’ influence. Early drafts would have banned all tobacco group donations, but the final version lets them make donations provided they do not publicise this largesse, says National Council Against Smoking spokesman Peter Ucko. “That is a weakness.”

The council hoped health officials at the conference would recognise weaknesses in the new law, and move to rectify them, Ucko says. There was inappropriate industry influence on the policy process leading to consideration of the bill of just the sort the WHO guidelines seek to stop, such as an industry-sponsored “study tour” last year with the Association for the Reduction of Tobacco Harms paying for 23 politicians, including MPs overseeing the bill’s passage, to learn about smokeless tobacco in Sweden. British American Tobacco, which has 70% of the local market, funds the association.

“Is this interference? They will say no. But when you take politicians overseas and give them wonderful gifts, it has to have an influence,” says Ucko.

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Africa: Continent At Crossroads of Tobacco Control 

The WHO in its 2004 report says: "Tobacco control, rather than being a luxury that only rich nations can afford, is now a necessity that all countries must address"

Faced with this global threat, international leaders in cancer and tobacco control announced on 16 November in Durban, South Africa the launch of an unprecedented multinational effort to promote more aggressive tobacco control measures across sub-Saharan Africa.

The Africa Tobacco Control Regional Initiative (ATCRI) aims at promoting the adoption, implementation and enforcement of an in-country tobacco control policies, legislations and programs. ATCRI will also provide a platform for information sharing, institutional support and capacity building amongst all tobacco-control stakeholders within the continent.

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Bid to curb influence of tobacco giants  

Countries represented at the World Health Organisation (WHO) tobacco-control treaty conference in Durban last week set new guidelines to try to stop tobacco firms influencing health policy.

This came just days after Parliament passed SA’s Tobacco Products Control Amendment Bill, prompting calls from antitobacco campaigners for the government to start work on new amendments to bring the law in line with the agreement.

The guidelines say governments should reject partnerships with the tobacco industry and limit interaction with these groups. While the agreement reached at the weekend is not legally binding, the 160 signatories to the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control are likely to use the guidelines to shape national policy.

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Tobacco policy could backfire 

Efforts by governments to reduce the health impact of tobacco could go badly wrong and make the huge illegal tobacco trade even worse if regulation is pushed by pressure groups to extreme measures, British American Tobacco's chief executive Paul Adams said in a statement on Monday.

Adams made the comment in response to a global World Health Organisation meeting in SA at the weekend.

The meeting adopted various guidelines to be positioned as best practice for governments in tobacco policy-making.

According to Adams, the guidelines suggested that the government should ban almost all communication by tobacco companies as well as minimise government contact with tobacco companies.

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Continent At Crossroads of Tobacco Control 

Faced with this global threat, international leaders in cancer and tobacco control announced on 16 November in Durban, South Africa the launch of an unprecedented multinational effort to promote more aggressive tobacco control measures across sub-Saharan Africa.

The Africa Tobacco Control Regional Initiative (ATCRI) aims at promoting the adoption, implementation and enforcement of an in-country tobacco control policies, legislations and programs. ATCRI will also provide a platform for information sharing, institutional support and capacity building amongst all tobacco-control stakeholders within the continent.

John King, Cancer Research UK's director said "...we recognize that while we in the UK have had some success in reducing the burden of tobacco addiction, our success has meant the tobacco industry has moved to develop new markets elsewhere around the world. In a sense, the west has exported the tobacco epidemic to Africa. The fight against tobacco is a global one without borders and we wish ATCRI every success."

The launch of this African initiative comes as the World Health Organization hosts the third Conference of the Parties of the WHO-initiated Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in Durban from 17-22 November.

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Effective Tobacco Control Policies in Nepal Shaping Up  

Government delegation from Nepal is among those 160 countries' delegations currently meeting in Durban, South Africa, to negotiate guidelines for provisions of the global tobacco treaty (17-22 November 2008).

The negotiations centre on the implementation of Article 5.3, which protects the treaty and related public health policies from tobacco industry interference.

The global tobacco treaty, formally called the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), took effect in 2005 and now protects more than 85 percent of the world's population. But efforts to implement the treaty are being systematically stymied by tobacco transnationals, reinforcing the importance of this week's third Conference of the Parties (COP3) in Durban, South Africa.

Dr Dirgh Singh Bam, Secretary for Ministry of Health and Population, Government of Nepal, heads the Nepalese delegation at the COP3 negotiations.

"Tobacco industry is very strong" said Dr Bam, sharing his personal opinion.

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Global alliance on tobacco control gains momentum 

The International Convention Centre in Durban, South Africa, is the host of hundreds of delegates from across the globe, converging for the third time to discuss issues surrounding the devastating effect of tobacco and how to control it.

Running from November 17 to November 23, the third session of the Conference of the Parties of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (COP3) is being held in a country that is recognized to have achieved exemplary results in its tobacco control initiative.

South Africa, according to its Health minister, Ms Barbara Hogan, continues to make significant progress in its fight against the use of tobacco. She dedicated the gains to the efforts of civil society organizations, NGOs, and legislators.

She however warned against what she called the “unlimited resources” at the disposal of the influential tobacco industry, which it uses to engage the “best legal minds” in the world to scrutinize anti-tobacco legislations with the view of finding any loopholes to exploit.

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