Email
Password
(Forgot Password?)
Graphic images highlighting the dangers of smoking will soon be displayed on all tobacco products sold in Malta, director general of public health Ray Busuttil revealed on Tuesday.
A legal notice announcing the new regulations on tobacco packaging is expected to be issued by the end of this month, Dr Busuttil said at a press conference on EU anti-smoking campaign Help.
Health Promotion Department director Charmaine Gauci said that statistics showed that although the prevalence of smoking in Malta has been decreasing in recent years, the reverse was true among schoolchildren.
Jump to full article »
The number of adults in Malta who smoke is appreciably on the decline but young people, particularly girls, are smoking more, a news conference yesterday was told. The news conference was given to promote World Heart Day, being held on Sunday, when radio and television stations will be running an advert to raise awareness regarding the dangers of cardiovascular diseases.
Health parliamentary secretary Joe Cassar said that not enough people in Malta are knowledgeable enough about the dangers their lifestyles can pose.
"Cardiovascular diseases are still the world's largest killers, claiming 17.5 million lives a year, even though the risk factors for heart diseases and strokes are well known.
The same smuggling routes used by the IRA to import weapons from Libya in the Eighties are now being used to import huge amounts the counterfeit cigarettes that are flooding the Irish market at a cost of between €500m and €1bn a year in lost taxes.
The dissident republicans from the "Real" IRA, based in north Louth and south Armagh, are believed to be the biggest smugglers but appear to be working alongside retired Provisional IRA bosses who are still heavily involved in smuggling.
Gardai are concerned that some portion of the massive profits being racked up by the dissidents are going to pay for weapons to carry out attacks on PSNI officers. The dissidents have been recruiting young men in Catholic areas in the North and last month were responsible for stirring up sectarian violence.
The State appears to be unable to prevent the importation of the counterfeit cigarettes, which are manufactured in China. Investigations by Interpol and other agencies have shown that Irish smugglers are sourcing their cigarettes in China, via the internet, then having them smuggled to Tripoli in Libya, probably using the same contacts in the military there who supplied the IRA with weapons in the early Eighties.
Sources say the cigarettes are shipped via Malta then by sea or land in containers to Irish ports. The fact that the Irish Customs only have one container-scanner makes Irish ports an ideal destination for smuggling. Gardai believe that the smuggling is so large and well organised that they are also trans-shipping cigarettes and tobacco into Britain.
"The world in general has experienced an increase in contraband sales," despite enforcement of import and export controls, said Finance Minister Tonio Fenech yesterday.
"Smuggling remains a key problem in the cigarette trade and is likely to be the cause for disrupting legitimate sales in the near future," he added.
Mr Fenech was speaking at the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) annual meeting on cigarette smuggling, being held until tomorrow in St Julian's.
Mr Fenech said Malta's internal market was more prone to illegal activity due to higher prices of tobacco products when compared to prices in a number of foreign countries.
He explained that Malta experienced large-scale cigarette smuggling in transiting containers. Often, smuggling focused on well-known international brands, for instant recognition and confidence which resulted in quick sale.
Mainland operations by the Customs department have also proved to be significant
The World Health Organisation's Health Behaviour in School-age Children shows that smoking in Malta among 15-year-olds is on the increase.
A new approach will be taken to warning youngsters away from tobacco as the number of teenage smokers in Malta continues to rise.
According to a study by the World Health Organisation, the number of 15-year-old boys who smoke has gone up to 40.2 per cent in 2006 from 37.6 per cent in 2001/2002. . . .
A ban on smoking in public places came into force in 2005 and the advertising of cigarettes has been made illegal. Now the department is working on pictorials for cigarette packets, he said.
Another initiative of the department is the Quit and Win competition that encourages smokers to stop smoking and win prizes, said Anne Buttigieg, senior occupational therapist at the department.
In October 2004, smoking was banned in all enclosed public spaces, including public transportation, clubs and restaurants, although smoking areas are allowed.
Between October and December 2004, 45 people were charged in court for breaching the smoking regulations. There has since been a steady increase in the number of infringements, as 230 people were charged in 2005, 776 in 2006, going up to 1,275 people who were caught breaching the law in 2007. Between January and April of this year, 560 people have been charged in court.
The introduction of the smoking ban had not been easily accepted.
Smoking is very widespread in Malta, even though the overwhelming majority of the Maltese (70.3%) said that at present they do not smoke. But the rest, 29.7%, engage in it.
Smokers are present in all the categories of society, irrespective of age, gender and social class. In the total population, there are more male smokers (32.9%) than female (26.5%). The highest percentages of smokers are to be found in the 36-50 (35.6%) age bracket (26-35: 33.3%; 51-61: 23.5%) while the oldest respondents (65+: 21.3%) register the lowest incidence of smoking. The youngest age group made up of those aged 16-25 registered a rather high 31.9%.
The highest percentage of those who smoke belong to the DE (33.3%) and C1 (31.3%) categories; a much lower percentage was registered among smokers who hail from the highest socio-economic category (AB: 23.3%). Within the C2 category, smokers amount to 27.7%.
The police have charged 725 persons in 2006 for smoking in prohibited places, Minister for Justice Tonio Borg told Parliament during Tuesday's Parliamentary sitting.
Of these, 722 were caught smoking in bars and restaurants, two in hospital and one in a public office. A total of 500 persons were caught smoking in public places in Paceville alone.
Malta has just joined a network, originally set up in 2004 by the EU, 11 of its member states and the multi-national cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris International, aimed at fighting cigarette smuggling.
The European Commission said on Tuesday that another 13 member states, including Malta, have now signed the anti-contraband and anti-counterfeit agreement with Philip Morris International Inc, bringing the total number of signatory EU members to 24.
According to Sim Kallas, the EU commissioner responsible for the fight against fraud, this landmark agreement, which calls for substantially enhanced cooperation on many fronts in the fight against the shared problem of illegal trade in cigarettes, has proved to be highly effective.
A year after smoking was stubbed out in public places, JAMES DEBONO looks back at a year in which smokers retreated from indoors, more people gave up smoking, and whether the long arm of the law treated establishments equally.
Since the ban on smoking in public places came into force in October 2004, an average of two people a day have been booked by the police for smoking, or for permitting smoking in bars, restaurants and public places. In total, 176 people were charged for breaking the law on smoking in the past year, a fact which both businessman Philip Fenech and health crusader Mario Spiteri, contend that when it comes to enforcement, not everyone is being treated equally.
Thousands of Maltese families are enjoying smoke-free public places for the first time thanks to new smoking regulations, doctors from all over Europe will be told at an Oslo meeting today.
In a report due to be launched at a meeting of the European Forum of Medical Associations, the general secretary of the Medical Association of Malta, Martin Balzan, says Maltese bars and restaurant owners have chosen completely smoke-free premises rather than costly smoking rooms.
Quoting from a survey carried out for The Sunday Times, he says eight out of 10 Maltese people back the smoking regulations introduced last year.
"We support the government's efforts to enforce it (the law) for the benefit of everyone," he says in the report. . . .
The report - Smoke-Free Europe, Reviewing Progress, Prescribing Action - was prepared by the UK's Tobacco Control Resource Centre.
The health hazards of passive smoking were yesterday underlined by health officials in response to a claim by a legal consultant that there was no link between passive smoking and diseases.
Speaking to The Times, Health Promotion Department director Mario Spiteri stressed that passive smoking was a killer.
On Thursday, the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises, GRTU's legal consultant Andrew Borg Cardona said a British Medical Journal study reported there was no scientific link between passive smoking and diseases. . . .
Dr Spiteri said that if it were not true that second-hand smoke was harmful, the tobacco industry would have long sued governments for saying so. On the other hand, a document by tobacco company Philip Morris International says the company agrees that "smoking is addictive and causes serious and fatal diseases".
The GRTU has filed an official complaint against Dr Mario Spiteri, director Health Promotion Department and called on the head of the Civil Service to issue an order of cease and desist on Dr Spiteri, restricting him to his main function as a director of Health Promotion.
In a letter to J. R. Grima, and copied to the Cabinet, Vince Farrugia complained that Dr Spiteri had made remarks and made declarations about the GRTU that the latter was against the introduction of regulations banning smoking in public places.
The GRTU said the code of ethics binding civil servants clearly prohibited public officers from openly litigating with constituted bodies.
In his letter, he said that Dr Spiteri had failed to consult the GRTU prior to taking action that affected the livelihood of its members. . . .
The GRTU said it was taking legal action against Dr Spiteri personally.
Cigarette smoking among women has shot up to the extent that middle-aged women nowadays puff away more than men, a study shows.
The survey also shows that smoking is significantly higher among the unemployed and that smoking is still an integral part of Maltese life.
The study - "Smoking Trends Across Three Generations" - was carried out by Charlotte Sant Portanier, under the supervision of senior lecturer Maryanne Sant Fournier and consultant respiratory physician Stephen Montefort. . .
Thirty-five per cent of men and 21 per cent of women surveyed said they were regular smokers.
Whereas the number of male smokers dropped from around 40 per cent in 1985 to 35 per cent, prevalence of cigarette smoking among women doubled from 10.2 per cent to 21 per cent, the study shows.
This was most apparent in the 40- to 45-year-old segment where women did not only outnumber men smokers but they also smoked more cigarettes per day. . .
A total of 44 per cent of the 16- to 21-year-olds tried to stop smoking, while 73.2 per cent and 82.8 per cent of the two older age groups tried even harder.