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World Health Organization criticizes tobacco industry focus on Asian young people 

Tobacco companies are targeting the half billion young people in the Asia Pacific region by linking smoking to glamorous and attractive lifestyles, the U.N. World Health Organization said Friday.

In a statement marking World No Tobacco Day on Saturday, WHO said the tobacco industry is taking advantage of young people's vulnerability to advertising and influence.

"The bombardment of messages through billboards, newspapers, magazines, radio and television ads, as well as sports and fashion sponsorships and other ploys, are meant to deceive young people into trying their first stick," Shigeru Omi, WHO regional director for the Western Pacific, said in the statement.

Widespread tobacco advertising makes smoking appear normal and makes it hard for young people to understand that it can kill, the statement said.

WHO called on policy-makers to support a total ban on tobacco advertising, sponsorship and promotion as stipulated in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a global tobacco control agreement.

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Officials: ASEAN nations should prioritize health warning on tobacco 

ASEAN nations should speedily introduce strong tobacco packaging and labeling laws which have proven effective in spreading the anti-smoking message, Malaysian media reported on Thursday.

This was the message from senior government officials, civil society officials and World Health Organization representatives from the grouping who met in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.

Joining their appeal were experts from Mongolia and Australia attending a two-day regional workshop on tobacco controls, the New Straits Times said.

The call came at the end of a three-year deadline for the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and Cambodia to introduce large and effective health warnings on tobacco product packages and comply with the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC).

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• Why is there higher cancer mortality in indigenous Polynesian peoples? 

Native residents of Hawaii and New Zealand have much higher mortality rates for many cancers than the European peoples who live there. Education on screening programmes, diet, and smoking could help tackle this. The issues are discussed in the first of a series of Reviews on worldwide cancer disparities in the May issue of The Lancet Oncology. . . .

In terms of risk factors, Māori people are more than twice as likely to be smokers than European New Zealanders, 50% more likely to be obese, and almost three-times as likely to be obese smokers. Native Hawaiians have only a slightly higher smoking incidence than European Hawaiians, but a significantly higher risk of cancer for the same smoking history, suggesting they are more susceptible to the carcinogenic properties of cigarette smoke. Limited tobacco legislation in developing countries means that many Pacific islands are among tobacco companies’ new targets . . .

The authors conclude: "The extent of the differences in outcome due to different extrinsic risk factors, biological factors, or health behaviours is unclear….Advances such as adjuvant chemotherapy for breast, bowel, and lung cancer have improved survival, but data on treatment by ethnicity are lacking, and such treatment might be unequally applied between ethnicities. Evidence exists for a benefit of culturally appropriate education on screening programmes, diet, and smoking, all of which could lower the cancer burden in Polynesian communities."

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'Tobacco firms exploiting loopholes' 

ANTI-TOBACCO advocates from Southeast Asia said efforts to rid the region of the smoking habit will fail unless tobacco control laws, particularly those banning the promotion and advertising of tobacco products, are enforced effectively by all Asean member countries.

The Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance's (Seatca) policy development adviser, Mary Assunta, said it was time for all Southeast Asian countries to pool their efforts and enact measures that could reduce tobacco use.

"Unless we all effectively implement the global treaty that includes a ban on advertising and promotions, our people and children will remain vulnerable to the aggressive marketing tactics of Big Tobacco," she said.

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Tobacco threat pervasive 

Anti-smoking advocates from around Southeast Asia have agreed on the need to work together to push for the enforcement of a comprehensive ban on the promotion and advertising of tobacco products.

The need to combat what they said was increasingly subtle and sophisticated tobacco marketing was stressed at a two-day workshop that ended on Friday, organised by the Bangkok-based Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (Seatca) and the Health Promotion Board of Singapore.

The aim of the gathering was for participants from the region to share their experiences and lessons in anti-smoking campaigns and to address the need to tighten controls on anti-tobacco laws among Southeast Asian countries under Article 13 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control of the World Health Organisation.

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• Experts urge ASEAN to enforce ban on tobacco advertisements  

Efforts to rid the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) of the dangers of smoking will fail unless tobacco control laws, including banning the advertising of products, are enforced with equal zeal throughout the region, anti-tobacco experts said on Thursday. The Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) and the Singapore Health Promotion Board are holding two days of discussions in Singapore focusing on national and regional plans to further regulate tobacco advertising and promotion as part of a global treaty formalized by members of the World Health Organization.

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• PACIFIC SMOKE-FREE DEADLINE LOOMS 

Yes, there are a lot of sick people in this part of the world, many of them ticking time bombs of preventable ill-health who reached this point through a lifetime of cumulative choices.

For those Pacific Islanders who have smoked their way to illness, often on a ride of a pack a day, hospital resources, trained doctors, specialist care, even basic bedding and space are already stretched with those who got there first through overeating, binge-drinking and too little exercise.

It's estimated that three out of every four deaths in the Pacific can be linked to non-communicable, lifestyle diseases.

Unlike death by accident or injury, dying from a lifestyle disease is ironically the most likely way Pacific Islanders will leave this world--and the most preventable. . . .

The Pacific scenario above is becoming an all too common one for islands governments whose health budgets could do with financial injections and more skilled nationals willing to return home from expensive overseas training--and remain there.

Also worrying is the impact on women, making up around half of those affected by lifestyle ills, but still carrying the caregiver and domestic-nurse work when other family members fall sick. Take them out of the equation due to their own ill-health and the impact is a double hit to islands homes. . . .

The stop-smoking lobby has two items in its basket of solutions which other lifestyle diseases don't have. One is an international anti-smoking treaty, known in development jargon as the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, or FCTC. The other is a senator from Palau by the name of Caleb Otto. . . .

And despite his cynicism over corrupt colleagues, Otto believes it is still Pacific leadership that will push action towards the vision of a smoke-free Pacific.

He's not far off the mark. A new post-Pacific Forum Leaders statement on Health delivered in Tonga called for "immediate action to halt and reverse NCDs...through multi-sectoral engagement".

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Sri Lanka offers to host regional anti tobacco talks 

Sri Lanka has offered to host the consultations of the South-East Asia Regional Group (SEAR) of the World Health Organization on the Protocol on the illicit trade in Tobacco Products in October 2008.

The offer was made during the First Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body on a Protocol on Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products which concluded in Geneva on Friday. The Conference was attended by delegates from over 150 countries, observers, organizations and NGOs

Sri Lanka together with the other members of the SEAR actively participated in the deliberations both at the regional consultative meetings as well as the plenary sessions, in respect of the template of the Protocol on Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products prepared by an expert group appointed by the secretariat of the Convention of Tobacco Control.

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Stub out the menace  

THERE are 1.25 billion adult smokers in the world and 10 per cent of these are in South-East Asia.

At 46.1 per cent, Indonesia has the biggest percentage of adult smokers while Brunei has the least at 0.04 per cent.

Malaysia's adult smokers make up 2.9 per cent of adult smokers in the region. . . .

These were the grim facts presented by the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (Seatca) at the recent regional workshop on implementing a 100 per cent smoke-free environment.

Seatca was formed in 2001 to act as a supportive base for government and non-government tobacco control workers and advocates in the South East region and beyond.

It also acts as a watchdog to ensure that countries who have ratified the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control fulfill their requirements to implement measures to curb tobacco usage.

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Expert backs graphic lung cancer pics on cigarette packs 

SINGAPORE -- An international expert on respiratory diseases is all for posting graphic albeit gory images of the effects of lung cancer on cigarette packs to warn against hazards of smoking.

Citing the upward trend of smokers in the Asia-Pacific, Dr. Antonio Anzueto said such graphic images of smoking's effects just might dissuade people from lighting up.

"If to be able to reflect the very bad and deadly effects of smoking, I think the Philippines should resort to a graphic warning on cigarette labels too," Anzueto said at a recent press conference in Singapore.

A professor at the University of Texas Health Center, Anzueto and other doctors presented a study on chronic bronchitis and other smoking-related illnesses at a briefing sponsored by the pharmaceutical company Bayer.

Anzueto said he was aware of proposals in the Philippines that a law be passed requiring cigarette companies to include pictographic health warnings on cigarette packs.

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• Thursday brings a reason to quit smoking 

there is no better day to try than Nov. 15, the date of the 31st annual Great American Smokeout.

About 23 percent of active-duty personnel at Yokota use tobacco products, said Maj. PeggyAnn Cain, the flight commander for Health Promotion at Yokota, adding that about one in four airmen use tobacco Air Force-wide. . . .

This year, Yokota’s Health and Wellness Center sent out information to base units about the Smokeout and what they can do to help their personnel kick the habit. Other Air Force bases, as well as military installations worldwide, are conducting similar programs, she said.

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Symposium on tobacco control opens in Taipei 

A major symposium on tobacco control has launched in Taipei. The 8th Asia Pacific Association for the Control of Tobacco convention opened on Thursday.

The three-day event has brought to Taipei experts from 40 countries, including the chairman of the WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, Hatai Chitanondh.

Chitanondh said the WHO regulation went into effect in February, 2005. It is the only public health regulation with the power of international law. Signatories are required to take actions to ban indoor smoking and smoking at work. They also pledge to take steps to control tobacco hazards.

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WHO warns smoking could lead to mental disorders  

The World Health Organization (WHO) called Friday for an all-out war against tobacco use in Asia, with one of its officials calling smoking a 'deadly epidemic'.

Concluding a five-day conference on key health issues for Asia, the UN agency also warned that the number of patients with mental and neurological disorders in many countries in the Asian Pacific region is increasing while their treatment leaves much to be desired.

Shigeru Omi, WHO's regional director for the Western Pacific, told the conference on South Korea's Jeju Island that a few member states already have met the requirements of the agency's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and that more are making good progress in implementing the convention's provisions.

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WHO wants Asia to fight smoking 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) called for an all-out war on Friday against tobacco use in Asia, with one of its officials calling smoking a "deadly epidemic."

Concluding a five-day conference on key health issues for Asia, the United Nations agency also warned that the number of patients with mental and neurological disorders in many countries in the Asian-Pacific region is increasing while their treatment leaves much to be desired.

Shigeru Omi, WHO's regional director for the Western Pacific, told the conference on South Korea's Jeju Island that a few member states already have met the requirements of the agency's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and that more are making good progress in implementing the convention's provisions.

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