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When a strict anti-tobacco law came into effect three years ago, Maria Eugenia Avila scoffed. She had no intention of quitting the two packs a day she was delightfully smoking. She just stopped going to malls.
"I flee from places where I can't smoke and I cover the horrible warnings on the packs. I love smoking and I suffer with this law and all its prohibitions. But no law is going to make me quit," the 47-year-old kindergarten teacher said, while puffing away on a habit that costs her nearly $150 a month.
Three years into the tobacco-control legislation, Chileans are far from kicking the habit. Smoking among Chileans has remained fairly stable, dropping slightly from 42.6 percent in 2006, to 41.2 percent in 2008, with a perilous upward trend among women (currently 37.4 percent) and teenagers (35.4 percent, particularly females), according to the latest government survey on tobacco consumption.
This makes Chileans the heaviest smokers in the region. Another "smoker" country is Argentina, but it lags behind with smokers making up 30 percent of its population, according to the World Health Organization. Slightly more than 16 percent of Brazilians and about 19 percent of Mexicans smoke, while in the United States, 23 percent of the overall population are smokers.
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Philip Morris, the world's largest tobacco company, is suing Chiletabacos, the Chilean affiliate of the multinational British American Tobacco (BAT), three years after the Supreme Court ruled that BAT practiced unfair market strategies, allowing the company to have a large monopoly of Chile's tobacco sales.
Philip Morris, which represents 4 percent of the Chilean tobacco market, brought its charges against BAT on July 14, demanding US$137.5 million in compensation.
Lawmakers in Shanghai are moving to ban billboards urging people to "Love China", which were put up to promote one of the country's major cigarette brands, Chung Hua. "Chung Hua" in Chinese also means China.
The slogan of four Chinese characters "Ai Wo Chung Hua" (Love China) is emblazoned on bright red billboards featuring a picture of Beijing's landmark Tian'anmen Gate at the entrance to the former Imperial Palace. The billboards also have the Chinese for "Smoking can damage your health".
"The slogan 'Love China' is good, but when producers put 'Smoking can damage your health' beside it, the slogan becomes an advertisement," said Li Ming, a deputy to the on-going Shanghai People's Congress.
"All advertising related to tobacco or tobacco companies must be banned in line with the law," said Li, who is also vice head of Shanghai Lawyers Association.
Such covert advertising is also used for other tobacco brands, including Huangshan, produced by Bengbu Cigarette Factory, and Baisha, made by Baisha Group, Li said.
The Ministry of Health launched a new, two month anti-smoking campaign on Monday which aims to prevent minors from becoming smokers. The campaign will use TV and radio spots that urge adults to refrain from smoking in front of their children.
One of the spots contains the following message: “Children can’t choose, but you can. Don’t smoke or let others smoke in front of your children.â€
This is the first time Chile has employed an anti-smoking campaign of this kind.
Critics of Chile's recently enacted anti-smoking laws insisted this week that enforcement has been lax and that the Health Ministry should take stronger measures to combat the nation's addiction to tobacco.
The law came into effect on August 14th of 2006 and requires designated non-smoking areas in restaurants, a prohibition on cigarette sales within 300 feet of primary schools, and anti-smoking ads on 50 percent of all cigarette packages.
Sen. Guido Girardi, a physician, announced Monday that he will present measures to toughen the current tobacco law. "There has to be a total prohibition of smoking in all restaurants, certain offices, television programs and an advertisements ban on the Internet," said Girardi. "I think tobacco companies use various tricks in their effort to kill the public. The tobacco law has worked in some areas, but at the same time, has to be a lot more tough."
A recent World Health Organization study of 193 nations determined that 36.8 percent of Chile’s female population smokes an average of eight cigarettes daily, giving Chile the highest percentage of women smokers in the world. The study found that three out of every ten females under the age of 15 in Chile are addicted to tobacco.
The study, published Friday, attributed female smoking addiction to successful PR efforts by the tobacco industry, aimed at making female smoking “en vogue” and related to women’s liberty and sexual freedoms. While young female smokers may start for those reasons, after several years cigarettes become a form of stress relief, a way to escape anxiety or tension, and, oftentimes, an addiction.
The rise of women smokers in Chile has had a major impact on health. The number of female deaths due to pulmonary cancer has almost doubled in the last 15 years
Four months after a very strict, controversial tobacco law took effect, Chile’s Ministry of Health is wrestling with the problems associated with the new rules. . . .
One of the recurring problems is that hotels and casinos are exempted from the law, yet restaurants operating at those businesses must adhere to the law.
After reviewing complaints, Public Health undersecretary Lidia Amarales announced that smoking will be prohibited in any place underage people are allowed to enter.
Chile’s new “Marlboro Man” is Don Miguel, 70, a former cigarette addict and cancer survivor whose larynx was removed ten years ago.
A photograph of Don Miguel revealing the hole in his throat, along with a warning about the dangers of smoking, will cover half the surface area of all cigarette boxes sold in Chile within three months.
Miguel was an anti-smoking activist long before the Health Ministry asked him to be the poster boy for its campaign to cut back Chile’s tobacco consumption, the highest in Latin America. Monday marked the start of the campaign with a new government prohibition against smoking in public places and the sale of cigarettes to minors under 18, as well as regulations on tobacco advertising.
Speaking through a tube in his throat, Miguel has given his personal history to thousands of high school students across Chile . . .
The new Chilean law passed in May goes hand in hand with Miguel’s outreach to youth. Since 37% of Chile’s youth under 15 report smoking daily several of the new law’s measures are aimed directly at the under-18 demographic. In addition to outlawing sales to youth under the age of 18, cigarettes are prohibited within 100 meters of elementary and middle schools, and within 300 meters of high schools. Education and prevention are also on the agenda. By March 2007 all schools will teach students the dangers of smoking.
Chile is only the third country in South America - after Brazil and Uruguay - to impose significant restrictions on cigarette use and distribution.
Millions of Chileans will now be forced to take their cigarette breaks outside because of a tough nationwide anti-smoking law that took effect Monday.
The government said the measure, which bans smoking in schools, hospitals, government offices, stadiums, buses and other public places - aims to reduce an annual rate of 14,000 tobacco-related deaths in this country of 15.5 million people.
Smoking also will be restricted in restaurants, with large eateries given until May 2007 to create fully partitioned nonsmoking sections. Smaller restaurants will be able to choose between being smoke free or upgrading their ventilation systems. . . .
The new law also restricts tobacco advertising, including a ban on promoting cigarettes as light or low-tar. At least half of cigarette packaging must now be devoted to warnings about the health risks of tobacco.
The President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, promulgated changes to Law no. 19,419, to regulate tobacco advertising and sales. She stated that "the new Tobacco Law is more than just a list of prohibited items. It is a series of initiatives meant to protect people’s health, but it is also meant to promote respect among all of us—something very important for the kind of country, and society, that we want to build up."
The President signed yesterday this legislation at the Millantú Educational Complex, in the Santiago-area district of Macul, along with Health Minister María Soledad Barría, Education Minister Martín Zilic, and Labor Minister Osvaldo Andrade. Macul Mayor Sergio Puyol, Senator Jaime Naranjo and former Health Minister Pedro García were all present as well, and the President thanked them for their commitment to pushing the legislation through Congress.
During her speech, Bachelet highlighted the preventative aspects of the law, pointing out that it would allow for the distribution of more information about the harmful effects of tobacco. "This bill is about protecting people, and protecting their health," she said, adding that "the difference between smoking and not smoking has to do with the difference between a better future and a future full of problems." . . .
Later, the President stated that with this legal modification, "we are making our laws conform to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control," with regulations offering non-smokers better protection by guaranteeing smoke-free areas; providing more information about the effects of tobacco use; and efficiently controlling publicity, promotion and advertisements for tobacco products.
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday signed a law toughening this country's regulations on advertising, selling and consuming tobacco.
"Why is this law important? Because we know very well that tobacco is harmful to health and we know very well that there are not going to be enough doctors' offices or hospitals to attend to the (health) problems if we're not able to avoid them before they occur," the president said.
During the signing ceremony, which took place in a school in the capital neighborhood of Macul, Bachelet emphasized that the aim of the legislation is to harmonize Chile's internal regulations with the World Health Organization's framework agreement on tobacco control. . . .
The new law prohibits smoking in schools, public buildings, hospitals, universities, movie theaters, supermarkets and workplaces with more than 10 employees, unless they have specially designated smoking areas which are closed off from the rest of the facility and have their own ventilation.
In addition, the law eliminates tobacco advertising beginning 18 months after its entry into force and establishes that at least half the surface area of each cigarette pack must carry warnings about the dangers of smoking.
Chile's lower house passed a bill to restrict advertising by tobacco companies and reduce the number of public areas where smokers can light up.
The bill, which was passed on March 8 by the nation's Senate, bans cigarette advertising except in stores where they are sold and the sale of tobacco near schools, the lower house said today on its Web page.
``It's enormous progress to have a law that promotes good health,'' Health Minister Maria Barria said in comments broadcast by state-run Chilean National Television.
Chile's anti-smoking legislation, unanimously passed by the Senate this week, could become the first law of President-elect Michelle Bachelet's term in office when it goes before the House of Deputies on Tuesday. The legislation is one of the most restrictive in Latin America.
fter months of debate, Chile’s Congress is close to passing one of the toughest anti-smoking bills in South America. The Chamber of Deputies approved legislation on Tuesday to tighten controls on the advertising and consumption of tobacco in Chile. The strict new measures upset the tobacco lobby, which believes current law is tough enough.
The bill, first sponsored by Party for Democracy (PPD) Dep. Guido Girardi (who was elected senator last Dec. 11), requires tobacco companies to fund anti-smoking publicity campaigns and forces them to put anti-smoking advertisements on cigarette packages, along with anti-smoking ads on television, the internet and newspapers. The bill goes to the Senate on Thursday and, if approved, will go before Congress in March.
Passed by an overwhelming majority in the Chamber, the bill also bans direct and indirect tobacco advertising in all forms of the media. Under the new law, health warnings on cigarette packages will have to take up 50 percent of the package’s surface area . . .
Chiletabacos’ corporate manager Luis Fernando Laso described the bill as “incredibly intransigent” and accused legislators in the lower house of trying to make “even more stringent a bill, which to us, already appears to be very, very strict.” The tobacco industry did receive one concession, however, allowing them to advertise in areas where cigarettes are on sale.
Still, in a country where 14,000 people a year die of smoking-related illnesses, the government is keen to act.
Chile's Senate, alarmed by the hemisphere's highest rate of smoking among teenage girls, voted unanimously to pass a tough anti-smoking law on Wednesday similar to those in Canada and the United States.
Given the extent of the Senate's support, the measure is expected to easily pass the Chamber of Deputies. . . .
According to the government National Narcotics Control Council, known as Conace, most Chileans have their first cigarette by age 15. Twenty-six percent of teen-age girls and 55 percent of Chilean women aged 19-25 smoke.
The same percentage of the country's teenage boys smoke, as do 60 percent of adult Chilean men. . . .
The new law would ban the sale of cigarettes near schools, prohibit smoking in public places such as airports, hospitals and government buildings and limit smoking areas in bars and restaurants. It would also limit where tobacco firms can advertise.