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India agrees that Tobacco industry puts "pressure" to relax health policies  

The Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare revealed before the Central Information Commission that tobacco industry is putting "pressure" to relax the tobacco control policies (source: The Hindu, 14 November 2008).

The tobacco industry interference has times and again weakened and delayed the enforcement of the public health policies - for example, the tobacco industry, Indian Hotel Association and other allied agencies had filed more than 70 court cases against tobacco control policies in Indian courts in September 2008, and due to aggressive lobbying by such agencies, the Group of Ministers (GoM) formed earlier to review the pictorial warnings on tobacco products, diluted the pictorial warnings provision and postponed the implementation of pictorial warnings on tobacco products at least six-times.

The industry interference in public health policies certainly needs urgent attention to save lives otherwise it will continue to threaten to reverse the great advancements made in forging public health policies and implementing them.

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• Tobacco control law coming soon 

CABINET has given the Ministry of Health the green light to table the long-awaited Tobacco Products Control Bill in the National Assembly soon.

The Bill aims to make Namibia comply with the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which requires parties to "adopt and implement effective legislative, executive, administrative and/or other measures for preventing and reducing tobacco consumption, nicotine addiction and exposure to tobacco smoke".

The FCTC was adopted by the World Health Assembly in May 2003 in Geneva, Switzerland.

It is an international instrument aimed at controlling and reducing tobacco use and its negative effects on health, the economy and the environment, according to a press release from Cabinet this week. . . .

The Tobacco Products Control Bill is aimed at establishing a Tobacco Products Control Committee to advise the Minister on matters related to the use of tobacco products; to provide for the constitution, powers, duties and functions of the Committee; to provide for the reduction of demand for and supply of tobacco products; to provide for protection from exposure to tobacco smoke; to provide for the establishment of a fund for the control of tobacco products and to provide for related and incidental matters.

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Govt Clamps Down on Fake Liquor, Tobacco 

The ministry said it would remove and destroy stock of fake liquor or cigarettes from any business premises without any compensation to the business owner.

Those found with fake merchandise would be liable to pay tax on those products. There would be no mercy for third parties who bought merchandise from other wholesalers or agents.

"We have come across cigarette brands with too high tar levels and on occasions nicotine level five times higher than for medium ranged cigarettes.

This is life threatening," stated the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Finance Calle Schlettwein in a recent release.

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• Cigarette smuggler nabbed in Swakop 

POLICE are believed to have busted a prominent Swakopmund businessman after linking him to a haul of stolen cigarettes confiscated from a truck stopped by police at the Vioolsdrift Border Post.

Due to the sensitivity of the investigation, police refused to comment on reports about the arrest of at least one very prominent businessman from Swakopmund. The businessman was arrested in his home over the weekend where documents were apparently found, linking him to the cigarettes confiscated at Vioolsdrift. The harbour of Walvis Bay could now hold the key to uncovering one of the biggest smuggling syndicates in the history of Namibia.

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Cigarette smuggling ring cracked  

A CHANCE discovery of hundreds of boxes of cigarettes, hidden behind bags of charcoal, has tipped off Namibian Police and customs officers and their South African counterparts to a massive international smuggling syndicate that appears to stretch from Zimbabwe via Namibia to South Africa.

A vigilant South African customs official at Vioolsdrift on Wednesday night discovered several hundred cartons of Peter Stuyvesant and Pacific Blue cigarettes hidden under a single row of charcoal during a routine inspection of a Namibian truck headed for Cape Town.

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• Smoking Set to Kill More People 

Minister of Health and Social Services, Dr Richard Kamwi, officially expressed Namibia's support for 'World No Tobacco Day', in Windhoek this week.

This year's commemoration, which seeks to spread information globally on the dangers of tobacco use and why tobacco smoking is a public health priority, is held under the theme: 'Smoke-Free Environments.'

"Making work and public places 100 percent smoke-free inside will keep the bodies in these places smoke-free inside too. Thus, I wish to urge the Namibian nation to claim their right to be 100 percent smoke-free inside primarily for the promotion of good health," said Kamwi. . . .

Statistics compiled in 2000 in Namibia indicate a smoking prevalence of over 45 percent. In that year, 30 males per 100 000 died of trachea, lung and bronchus cancer, representing a mortality rate of 25.5 percent. The same year (2000) saw 96 males per 100 000 die of lip, oral cavity and pharynx cancer. . . .

The Tobacco Bill was first drafted between 1992 and 1993 and was tabled in parliament in 2005. The Bill has not yet been passed by parliament.

Once the Tobacco Control Act is passed, it will ban smoking in public places, which is blamed for deaths and diseases such as cancers, tuberculosis and stillbirths.

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• Tobacco Bill Being Drafted As Act of Parliament 

The long-awaited legislation that the government is to introduce to ban smoking in public places, is still with the legal drafters.

The Tobacco Bill was first drafted between 1992 and 1993, and dragged on and on until 2005 when it was tabbed and adopted in Parliament. The legal drafters are now preparing the Bill as an Act of Parliament - the Tobacco Control Act.

If introduced, the law will ban smoking in public places which is blamed for deaths, diseases such as cancers and Tuberculosis, and also stillbirths.

Statistics compiled in 2000 in Namibia indicate a smoking prevalence of over 45 percent. In that year, 30 males per 100000 died of trachea, lung and bronchus cancer, representing a mortality rate of 25.5 percent. The same year 2000 saw 96 males per 100000 die of lip, oral cavity and pharynx cancer.

However, in females fewer deaths were reported from the two categories . . .

Among reasons cited for the delay in coming up with legislation are high staff turnover, lack of skills and lack of political drive. Head of the Information, Education and Communication Division in the Ministry of Health and Social Services, Mbashupi Maloboka, told New Era yesterday that the Bill took long to be tabled because the ministry lacks the staff

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Illegal Cigarette Shipment Seized At Keetmanshoop 

CUSTOMS and Excise officials at Keetmanshoop yesterday thwarted an attempt to smuggle a large quantity of cigarettes across the southern border.

The officials seized around 1 million cigarettes concealed in a consignment of firewood on a truck, belonging to Invo Transport CC.

The truck's driver, Otto Basser (37), told The Namibian that the firewood and cigarettes were loaded at the farm Appelblaar in the Omitara district.

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About the Dangers of Smoking  

“Go Ahead Put Another Nail in Your Coffin – Smoking Kills”, was the dramatic message from the Cancer Association of Namibia to sensitise the public about the dangers of smoking on International No Smoking Day yesterday.

On display was an actual coffin and cigarette packets on the side. As much as this might have been construed by some as a negative way of driving the message home, the fact of the matter remains that smoking does kill.

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• Namibia: Second Hand Smoke Is Just as Bad 

A study published in Circulation and quoted by a Rhino Park pharmacy newsletter, Health News of February and March notes that second hand smoke increases chances of heart disease by 30 percent. . . .

In Namibia, the Cancer Association of Namibia (CAN) recently sounded a warning against cigarette smoking in the country.

CAN Director, Kurt Johanneson said there was a need for legislation against smoking in public places. He said the association would work with the Ministry of Health and Social Services to push for legislation that bans public smoking.

The National Assembly recently ratified the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on tobacco control, which set in motion the process of formulating Namibia’s own legislation to prohibit certain tobacco related practices.

Statistics compiled in 2000 in Namibia indicate a smoking prevalence of 65 percent among males compared to 35 percent females in 1994. The statistics indicate that in 2000, 30 males per 100 000 died of trachea, lung and bronchitis cancer, representing a mortality rate of 25.5 percent. The same year 2000 saw 96 males per 100 000 die of lip, oral cavity and pharynx cancer.

Part of the advice Health News has given out to help minimise the effects of second hand smoke include equipping homes or individual rooms with high efficiency extractors or air filters, breathing exercises in a smoke free area, taking saunas and steam baths to help rid the body of toxins, as well as increasing the intake of fibre-rich fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

Health News also recommends the intake of supplements

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• Namibia to Clamp Down On Public Smoking 

THE days of smoking in public in Namibia are numbered.

Parliament yesterday unanimously agreed that the exposure of non-smokers to second-hand smoke had to be stubbed out.

By ratifying the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on tobacco control, Namibia has set in motion the process of enacting its own legislation to outlaw certain tobacco-related practices.

The convention came into force in February.

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Anti-Smokers Gear for Action 

THE Director of the Cancer Association of Namibia (CAN) has called for the speedy implementation of the Tobacco Bill.

Speaking at the World No Tobacco day commemoration at Swakopmund on Friday, CAN's Kurt Johanneson said it would be wonderful to eat in a restaurant without somebody blowing smoke over your plate of food.

He said it would be great if the law could be implemented within the next year.

Minister Richard Kamwi of Health and Social Services, who delivered the keynote address, said the draft bill, which aims to reduce smoking and tobacco consumption, was close to completion.

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Tobacco And Alcohol Face Sharp Increases 

Biting increases in taxes on excise duties have also been announced on luxury goods. For cigarettes an increase of 16.6% has been announced. The prices of cigars and pipe tobacco will also increase by 15.7% and 17.3% respectively. . . . these prices will be deemed to have taken effect as from 18th February this year.

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Introduction of smoking ban in bars and restaurants postponed for six to 12 months 

In order to "avoid unnecessary confrontation" with the Association of General Retailers and Traders (GRTU), the government has decided to postpone the introduction of the smoking ban in bars and restaurants for between six and 12 months, health minister Louis Deguara announced yesterday.

Asked whether this move meant that the government had given in to the pressure of restaurant and bar owners and decided to please them, Dr Deguara denied this was the case, adding that the government could have easily chosen the path of confrontation but this would have led to nothing. He said the government's aim is that the smoking ban will be introduced. "Whether it is introduced now or in six months' time, does not make a difference to the government," he said.

Despite saying this, later on Dr Deguara said that: "The GRTU had the ammunition and used it", thus implying and admitting that the government has been held to ransom by the bar and restaurant owners.

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Govt Moves to Stub Out Tobacco Tolerance 

NAMIBIA, in a long-expected move, has signed the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Health Minister Dr Libertina Amathila signed the treaty aimed at curbing tobacco-related deaths and disease in Geneva on January 29. . . .

It took Namibia about nine months to sign it but the treaty will come into force only after it has been ratified by 40 countries.

Only seven countries have ratified the treaty so far.

Namibia must first enact its own long-awaited anti-tobacco legislation before it can ratify the treaty.

The draft Tobacco Bill has been awaiting approval for close to three years now.

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