Tobacco.org

Smoking has no positive effect on body 

A medical officer at Gaborone Private Hospital (GPH) says there is no condition that requires one to smoke as some smokers claim.

Deliberating on the topic: 'Health effects of tobacco use" at a Tobacco Awareness Workshop for Youth,' Mr George Chingarande, said as far as medical research is concerned, there is no known proof that tobacco has positive effects on the human body.

Mr Chingarande noted that at the moment there are only known negative effects of tobacco, chief among which are various forms of cancer. He therefore challenged anyone who can prove otherwise to come forward with such information. He said it sad that some people deny the adverse effects of tobacco.

He regretted that more and more youth are tobacco smokers, especially cigarettes because they think the practice is trendy while in fact is it is a health risk.

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BROWNE: Enforcement of smoking ban inadequate 

Almost a decade ago, non smokers in this country rejoiced when Botswana government finally came to its senses to ban smoking in public areas.

The smoking ban was expected to usher in a new era . . .

What surprises me most, and other equally concerned citizens, is that nobody seems to care to enforce this piece of legislation, which has now become, despite its good intentions, one of the most neglected pieces of legislation in modern day Botswana. . . .

As more stadia will be undergoing renovation and upgrading in Botswana in preparation for the World Cup in 2010, I hope it has also dawned on the minds of authorities to allocate smoking rooms/spaces where smokers can suck in their cigars and cigarettes far away from those who still cherish their lungs. Time is now for the Ian Khama led government to commit resources to address indiscriminate smoking in public areas lest thousands of citizens lose their precious lives. Smoking kills faster than alcohol.

Smoking still occurs in most public places

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Police smash Zim tobacco smuggling racket? 

Police in Bobonong have smashed what appears an organised tobacco smuggling racket after retrieving two 50kg bags of tobacco from the home of a 72-year-old woman.

Seven more black plastic bags also containing tobacco were recovered from the same home.

The tobacco is believed to have been smuggled into Botswana from Zimbabwe through ungazetted entry points.

Bobonong Police Station Commander Patrick Mbikiwa said the old woman was a friend of two Zimbabweans who left the bags in her home while they transported five bags to Gaborone.

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The Tough Life In Prison 

"Tobacco is used as money in prison." Inmates use tobacco to buy things from others. They even use it to buy sex from other men. "They call it maotwana or smokolo (homosexuality)," he explains

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BRINA: Kicking the Habit 

In 1992, it became an offence to smoke in public places in Botswana. Individuals breaking that law are theoretically subject to a P1000 fine, but no one I know - including a few police officers - has ever heard of anyone having to cough-up any cash for smoking in public.

The P10,000 fine that restaurant and bar owners are subject to, however, has encouraged them to enforce the non-smoking regulations at their establishments.

If the government really wanted to help the nation kick the smoking habit, however, they wouldn't try to hit the odd offender with a fine but rather slap a healthy tax on every pack of cigarettes.

In the United Kingdom 20 cancer-sticks will set you back the equivalent of P70. . . .

The problem may well be that until our average life expectancy grows to above 50-years-of-age, government and health officials won't view cancer and heart disease as priority items.

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The causes of oral cancer 

Oral cancer - also known as a lifestyle Cancer because of its association with smoking and drinking - is the second commonest cancer amongst men. Head of Oncology at Princess Marina Hospital, Dr Alexander von Paleske, described the disease as a nasty cancer that appears as a small lesion on the lip, tongue and throat. Paleske also noted that sometimes one gets a hoarse voice that will not go away.

This cancer affects more than 80 percent of males and does not play a role in women, although this may change due to HIV, Paleske said. He added that often when given antibiotics the condition gets better, but warns patients that they need to do something about it. Known as head and neck tumours, he said when detected early, treatment includes surgery and therapy.

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Anti-smoking group holds training workshop 

The Stop Smoking Support Group (SSSG) held its first workshop last week to empower and train people on peer counselling. The group that is technically under the guidance of Environmental Health Unit (EHU) aims to help those who want to quit smoking and maintain the abstinence for the rest of their lives. EHU technical officer, Ephraim Rapalai said the group comprises 11 executive committee members, mostly young people and former smokers.

As peer counsellors, members of the group come from different professional backgrounds.

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Tobacco products must be restricted 

Tobacco companies have been blamed for deceptive business practices that they employ to market their products.

Addressing the nation in radio broadcast to mark the commemoration of the World No Tobacco Day yesterday, the Minister of Health, Shiela Tlou, said the day was set aside by countries to draw global attention to the tobacco epidemic, preventable diseases and deaths that it causes.

Tlou said this years theme Tobacco: Deadly in Any Form or Disguise aims to sensitise customers and policy makers to the fact that the use of all tobacco products is extremely harmful and that all tobacco products, not just manufactured cigarettes, should be strictly regulated.

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To Smoke Or Not To Smoke 

FRANCISTOWN: The hazards posed by tobacco on people's health came to the fore on Wednesday last week during celebrations to mark the World No Tobacco Day.

The commemorations, broadly crafted to curb tobacco consumption, came in the face of increased tobacco sales and consumption in the country. Jean Kalilani, the World Health Organisation (WHO) representative in Botswana said statistics reveal that there has been an increase in the number of women who smoke. She warned that smoking poses a serious threat to the growth of society as it has a direct link to cancer, which kills many people. However, opinion is divided in Francistown on what should be done about smoking.

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MONBIOT: Who really belongs to another age - bushmen or the House of Lords? 

I think I have discovered the clinching argument for closing the House of Lords. It is the presence in that chamber of a peer called Lady Tonge of Kew. Last week the baroness (formerly the Liberal Democrat MP Jenny Tonge) opened a debate about Botswana with an attack on the Gana and Gwi bushmen of the Kalahari. She suggested they were trying to "stay in the stone age", described their technology as "primitive" and accused them of "holding the government of Botswana to ransom" by resisting eviction from their ancestral lands. How did she know? In 2002 she had spent half a day as part of a parliamentary delegation visiting one of the resettlement camps into which the bushmen have been forced. Her guides were officials in the Botswanan government.

Lord Pearson of Rannoch, a man with whom I seldom find myself in sympathy, alleged that something was missing from her account: the trip, he claimed, including first-class air travel, was funded by Debswana. Debswana, a joint venture between De Beers and the government of Botswana, owns the rights to mine diamonds in the bushmen's land in the Kalahari. . . .

He might have added that Debswana was being assisted by Hill and Knowlton, the public-relations company famous for the unsavoury nature of its clients. It advised the Chinese government in the wake of the Tiananmen massacre, set up lobby groups for the tobacco companies and coached the girl who told the false story about Kuwaiti babies being thrown out of incubators that helped to launch the first Gulf war.

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• Corporate Accountability International: NGOs Urge African Health Ministers to Support Global Tobacco Treaty 

As African Ministers of Health gather at a meeting organized by the African Union, members of the Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals (NATT) are urging health officials from countries throughout Africa to swiftly advance ratification of the global tobacco treaty. In recent weeks, corporate accountability and health advocates have organized events in countries across Africa to build support for ratification of the treaty, formally known as the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC). Events in Uganda, Zambia, Nigeria, Togo and beyond have made headlines.

"This treaty will save millions of lives and change the way giant tobacco corporations operate around the world," says Megan Rising of Corporate Accountability International. "It demonstrates that working together, the nations of the world and their NGO allies can protect people from irresponsible and dangerous actions of corporations like British American Tobacco (BAT) and Philip Morris/Altria."

Governments must ratify by November 8th for their delegates to have a vote at the treaty's first enforcement meeting early next year. The tobacco industry -- which has been aggressively targeting Africa to expand markets for its deadly products -- has been attempting to derail African countries' ratification by spreading misinformation about the treaty. For example, tobacco corporations have tried to convince some officials that they cannot ratify until after they have passed domestic legislation to implement the treaty.

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Botswana Government Forces Bushmen From Their Homes 

All but a few of the Bushmen living in Botswana's Central Kalahari Game Reserve have been forcibly removed from their homes in recent days in what spokesmen for the affected communities said is a final push by the government to end human habitation there after tens of thousands of years.

The First People of the Kalahari, an activist group in Botswana, said Bushmen villages have been cut off from their main sources of food and water, and outsiders have been prohibited from entering to provide relief for the past six weeks. . . .

The First People of the Kalahari loaded five trucks full of corn meal, water and tobacco on Sept. 24 in an attempt to defy the quarantine. The confrontation grew violent, and police fired rubber bullets to disperse the crowd, injuring one [This graph only]

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Ministry ammends smoking act 

Ministry of Health has amended the Control of Smoking Act of 1992, so that it now totally bans smoking in public places, offices and public service vehicles.

The newly amended law now carries heavier penalties for violations and stricter enforcement mechanisms.

Chief health officer in the ministry , Setshwano Mokgweetsinyana, told Jwaneng full council meeting that the amendment of the Act was also intended to get rid of indiscriminate smoking in public places and protect non-smokers, unborn and breast feeding babies.

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Mwanawasa in Tobacco Trade Talks 

PRESIDENT Mwanawasa today held talks with his counterparts from Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana and Malawi on tobacco production and trade among the six countries.

The six presidents held the tobacco talks during a working breakfast at the Royal Palm Hotel.

Briefing the Zambian media immediately after the talks, Foreign Affairs minister, Kalombo Mwansa said the discussions were 'very fruitful'.

Dr Mwansa said the six heads of State discussed a number of issues in relation to tobacco production and trade among their countries.

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Proposal to amend 1992 Smoking Act goes through second reading 

A proposal to amend the 1992 Smoking Act went through second reading in Parliament Tuesday.

The bill seeks to introduce a total ban on smoking in public places, offices and public service vehicles and that penalties for violations and enforcement mechanisms are established.

Presenting the bill, Health minister Lesego Motsumi said the 1992 Act was not executed as expected due to lack of clarity on procedures of enforcement.

She said the resulting rampant public complaints with regard to indiscriminate smoking in public places resulted in undue exposure of the non-smokers to the harmful effects of passive smoking.

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