Tobacco.org

Lights out for smokers  

Smokers in Trinidad and Tobago will soon be stripped of their right to light up in public as they wish as a new law that seeks to curb the practice is to take effect this week.

In a release issued on the weekend, the health ministry said the Tobacco Control Act, which was passed two months ago, will come into force on a phased basis starting Wednesday.

Under the act, smoking in any enclosed public places is outlawed.

The health ministry said the new law was designed to protect people from exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke, especially children, babies and pregnant women, as well as preventing others from taking up the habit.

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LETTER: Smoking ban makes good sense  

THE EDITOR, Sir:

Smoking has been recognised as a serious medical problem and, in the last 40 years, has been linked irrefutably to many serious diseases of various tissues, including cancer, heart disease, gangrene of lower limbs, stroke and lung disease. Cigarette smoking also increases the complications of diabetes and hypertension. . . .

Reports of studies undertaken in communities in various countries, in which a ban on public smoking was instituted, revealed a marked reduction in the incidence of, and deaths from, heart attacks. So let us help to improve the health of smokers and non-smokers in our community by introducing a ban on cigarette smoking in public places.

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$40m up in smoke  

CUSTOMS officials last week had more than two million sticks of cigarettes smuggled into the island destroyed in their continued campaign to cut off the supply chain of this lucrative trade.

The cigarettes, the Observer was told, had an estimated street value of more than $40 million.

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LETTER: Where's the smoking ban?  

The Editor, Sir:

The Ministry of Health promised us earlier this year that it would be moving during the first quarter of the current fiscal year for the enactment of comprehensive legislation respecting a ban on smoking in public spaces.

We are coming towards the end of the third quarter of this fiscal year and the silence from the ministry on this promise has been rather deafening. One wonders whether 'special interests' may be at work here in preventing this from becoming a reality. . . .

It is full time now, Minister, that you stop the pussyfooting and bring meaningful action to restrict severely this bad and unhealthy practice of smoking.

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Ban cigarette smoking in public, say young people 

A study was recently done in Jamaica as part of the Global Youth Survey. In this study, seven in 10 students thought smoking should be banned in public places. We must commend our young people for their foresight and wisdom.

The fact is studies have shown that the person who inhales smoke either exhaled by the smoker or from a burning cigarette is also at risk for the diseases of the smoker.

The study also revealed some interesting findings about cigarette smoking among young people in Jamaica. Cigarette smoking is a growing among young people; 37 per cent of students reported that they had ever smoked cigarette and 22 per cent currently use tobacco products. . . .

There are several things that we can do as a society.

1. Refer people who smoke for help. If you or someone has a smoking problem, then you should consult your health-care provider or an agency such as RISE (formerly Addiction Alert).

2. We need to support the call for a more effective media campaign to decrease smoking, especially among the youth.

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Smoking is nicotine addiction - It's a bad habit  

Do you realise that smoking lowers your immunity to illness and is bad for your health? You perhaps started smoking because you thought it was fashionable and macho! Maybe you had planned to stop burning your money but found that when you were stressed, cigarettes helped. Now you continue smoking because you can't help yourself. You not only have a conditioned response (a habit) to smoke when you are doing certain things, but you suspect that you are addicted to nicotine! . . .

When you quit, you will be assailed by cravings and urges to smoke again. Help is available from the Jamaica Cancer Society - 927 4265 and the Jamaica Coalition on Tobacco Control - 926 4378. There are physicians who are trained to help you stop smoking, like Dr Aldyth Buckland who provided much of the information for this article. She can be contacted at aldyth_buckland@yahoo.com. More help can be found at www.whyquit.com.

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Smoking - Men have been duped  

Nearly one billion men in the world smoke. This figure includes 35 per cent of men in developed countries and 50 per cent of men in poorer countries. Men have been duped by the portrayal of smoking as a manly habit. It is sold as a link to wealth, power, fitness, and sexual prowess. In reality, smoking leads to illness, impotence, premature ageing and death.

Cigarette consumption

In the Caribbean, annual cigarette consumption is anywhere from 500 to 1,500 cigarettes per person (according to The Tobacco Atlas, 2002, World Health Organisation). Fortunately, male smoking worldwide appears to be declining, albeit very slowly. In general, the more educated man has given up the smoking habit, recognising that smoking puts its victims at risk for early heart attacks, bronchitis and lung cancer. Smoking is more common among the poorer, less-educated man.

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Graphic warning pictures to be placed on cigarette boxes  

In a move geared towards convincing chronic tobacco smokers and first timers to quit the practice or not start at all, the Ministry of Health will shortly be rolling out its pictorial health warnings on cigarette packages.

This is in response to an international call put out by the World Health Organisation, WHO.

Twelve countries have already joined the initiative.

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Tobacco, impotence and firing blanks  

ACCORDING to medical practitioner, Dr Orlando Thomas, tobacco smoking has definitely been linked to impotence in Jamaican men, and if used heavily, eventually causes men to 'fire blanks'.

"This is definitely true, because it contains nicotine which causes hardening of the arteries and results in less blood flow to the penis," the doctor said.

This view is backed by studies which found that tobacco smoking has been individually associated with plaque build-up in the arteries, called atherosclerosis. This plaque obstructs the blood flow through the vessels, causing a host of circulatory problems throughout the body, resulting in erectile dysfunction (impotence). Long-term use of tobacco will eventually cause the blood flow to become non-existent, resulting in impotence.

Dr Thomas said while younger men may continue to smoke and boast that they are able to 'rise to the occasion', this is only for a time.

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New price on cigarettes killing us fast, smokers say 

FOR some smokers, the new tax on cigarettes which came into effect Monday has burnt such a hole in their pockets that they're smoking less.

Mitchell Williams, who smokes the Craven A brand, says the new price of $30 per cigarette has caused him to cut back on his habit to match what he can afford.

WILLIAMS... says new tax has forced him to cut back on his consumption of cigarettes. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

"I used to buy one smoke for $20 but this morning I woke up and check my regular seller, them say it selling for $30. That mean say my little $100 used to buy five now I can only get three," Williams said as he lit up inside a bar on Slipe Road in St Andrew.

Single cigarettes are sold for $25 by most street vendors, while some bars and shops sell a cigarette for $30.

This means a pack will cost a smoker between $500 and $600 on the streets.

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Smoking Kills  

THE Jamaica Coalition for Tobacco Control is pushing to have graphic images highlighting the dangers of smoking, displayed on cigarette packages by next January as a way of deterring Jamaicans from lighting up.

Under the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control treaty of which Jamaica is a signatory, tobacco manufacturers will be expected to have the graphics displayed on 50 per cent of the package.

The Jamaica Coalition for Tobacco Control through the Heart Foundation of Jamaica has received a grant from the Bloomberg Global Initiative to ensure the implementation of the rotating picture-based package warnings on tobacco products sold in four Caribbean countries - Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.

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$5 more for cigarettes  

Starting Monday, cigarette smokers will start paying more for some popular brands of tobacco products as the increase in the Special Consumption Tax (SCT) takes effect.

Carreras Limited, the country's largest distributor of cigarettes, has announced that the price of a cigarette will move from $20 to $25.

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Finance Minister meets with cigarette distributor  

One day after Finance Minister Audley Shaw announced a further increase in the Special Consumption Tax on tobacco products, Executives at the island's largest cigarette distributor, Carreras Limited, are meeting to discuss the implications.

Carreras markets and distributes the popular "Craven A" cigarette.

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Cigarettes being hoarder (sic) 

RJR News is receiving reports that some cigarette retailers have started hoarding supplies ahead of Monday's implementation of the hike in the tax on tobacco products.

There are also reports that a few retailers are already applying the increased Special Consumption Tax (SCT) on cigarettes.

The situation is said to be prevalent in rural areas.

In St. Elizabeth, shopkeepers say cigarette supplies at wholesale establishments have dried up since Finance Minister Audley Shaw's announcement in Parliament on Wednesday.

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Smoking ban looms  

The Ministry of Health is ratcheting up pressure on organisations to ban smoking in public spaces and will be lobbying for the enactment of comprehensive legislation during the first quarter of the new fiscal year.

Eva Lewis-Fuller, director of health promotion and protection at the Ministry of Health, said limiting smoking privileges in both public and private business places would help protect non-smokers from second- and third-hand effects.

"Cabinet has considered it and agreed in principle for the law to be imposed. However, additional work needs to be done, such as getting responses from other agencies and analysis of the economic impact it would bring," Lewis-Fuller told The Gleaner.

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