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A district level network has been set up here in order to gradually minimize the use of tobacco products in Ilam district. The network was founded at a gathering of local NGOs here, organized at the initiative of the Mahila Jagaran Sangh, supported by the Primary Health Centre, Kathmandu. The gathering also decided to carry out awareness-oriented programs for the minimization of consumption of tobacco products, considering the people’s right to health. According to a study, of the total population 73 per cent of the people in Ilam district have been found to be consuming tobacco products. Likewise, ten per cent of the farmers in the district are into tobacco farming
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The number of female smokers is higher in Nepal compared to other countries, especially from hilly and Himalayan regions. The trend has picked up in the form of a fad in the urban areas. Around 15,000 people die in Nepal every year due to consumption of tobacco related products. . . .
Talking to The Rising Nepal first vice-president of Nepal Cancer Relief Society (NCRS) Ishwor Shrestha said there are 4000 kinds of chemicals in tobacco and they cause 25 kinds of diseases. He said that diseases related to the lung, mouth, throat and uterus cancer, baldness, cataract, asthma, weakness, infections of the mouth cavity, weak bone, heart problem and stomach ulcer. Anti-smoking Day The country adopted Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in 2003 but still it has not been implemented
Indian tobacco giant ITC has had little cause to celebrate the 59th Indian Republic Day with trade unionists backed by the Maoists shutting down its tobacco factory in south Nepal, the second such disruption in three months.
Surya Nepal, ITC's majority-held joint venture that is also one of Nepal's largest revenue earners, has had its tobacco factory in Simra town in frontier district Bara closed since Wednesday with its Maoist-affiliated trade union raising a fresh 15-point demand.
Nepal Cancer Relief Society has announced to make Nepal a tobacco-free nation by 2020.
The declaration was made by the Society's Central Assembly that passed a proposal on it.
The Society has also expressed the commitment to work towards realising the proposal by working in coordination with the Government of Nepal, political parties, civil society, consumers' association, journalists' associations, trade association and various other professional organisations for the effective enforcement of the UN Tobacco Control Convention.
Gorkha Lahari (P) Ltd. has entered the Nepali cigarette market by purchasing all the brands as well as the plant and machinery of Nepal Tobacco Company.
The Nepali cigarette market consumes about 9 billion sticks per year, according to some estimates. The sales volume of Nepal Tobacco was about Rs. 450 million per year.
Gorkha Lahari is the new name of Gorkha Lawrie (P) Ltd., a Soaltee Group company engaged in tea business that was purchased by Indian investor Raj Kumar Thard about five years ago
Sixteen thousand people die annually due to the consumption of tobacco products in Nepal.
Treatment of diseases caused by consumption of tobacco products is very expensive, difficult and the results are also not reliable. . . .
One hundred and sixty-eight countries, including Nepal, have signed the World Health Organization (WHO) Convention on Tobacco Control. Out of these, 141 countries have ratified the Convention.
The reinstated Parliament of Nepal had endorsed the Convention on 7 November, 2007.
In this connection, Minister of State for Population and Health, Sashi Shrestha, Friday, inaugurated the a national workshop on the implementation of WHO Convention on Tobacco Control organized by Child Workers in Nepal Concerned Centre ( CWIN).
Minister of State Shrestha said merely signing the Convention on paper was not enough until it was implemented in an effective manner.
According to some latest sta tistics, tobacco kills more people than AIDS, alcohol, car crashes, murders, suicides and fires put together because a cigarette smoker not only causes injury to him but also people around him.
Risks The World Health Organization (WHO) lists no less than 23 tobacco-related diseases and says that nicotine exacerbates asthma, causes impotence, infertility, cardiac distress, stokes and cancer. These include cancers of the oral cavity, larynx, lungs, oesophagus, bladder and pancreas - with oral cancers accounting for 70 per cent of all cancers in men in Nepal. . . .
It is disturbing to note there are plenty of kiosks in Kathmandu which sell cigarette and chewing tobacco just outside the schools and colleges. Punitive measures are essential to deter selling tobacco products around educational institutions as consumption of tobacco products are increasing, and youngsters are almost obsessed about them. The government and the companies have a responsibility to protect non-smokers from passive smoking. What the government and corporate must do is provide incentives that dissuade smokers from their dependency on the cancer stick. For instance, include a caveat in a smoker's contract that denies him medical benefits should the illness be related to smoking. Government policy Every smoker knows that smoking is injurious to health. Many at one point or the other try to kick the butt but few succeed. It is important to recognise that addiction to smoking, like other substances, is a psychological disability. Government policy must hinge on a policy of inclusion.
Self-regulation is a cry in the wilderness. Locate smoking zones far away so that the distance to reach that zone itself would deter the smoker from lighting up every so often. The power of persuasion takes time. But it is far more effective.
The Nepali Ministry of Health and Population has called on all sides concerned to coordinate and cooperate in anti-tobacco campaign to make tobacco-free home and society, local newspaper The Rising Nepal reported on Wednesday.
The ministry has also called for the adoption of the policy of checking and controlling production, distribution and consumption of tobacco products.
Various speakers at a discussion program organized by the National Health Education, Information and Communication Center on anti-tobacco stressed the concerted efforts to discourage the issue of tobacco in Nepal.
The Nepali parliament recently ratified the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which obliges the government to create and enforce regulatory laws that control and/or prohibit the advertisement, promotion, sponsorship and consumption of tobacco. The government first signed the convention on December 3, 2003, but lacking a parliament, ratification was delayed until November 7, 2006. This was fast for Nepali legislation, due in part to heavy anti-smoking pressure.
In a bid to lure more farmers into tobacco farming, Janakpur Cigarette Factory (JCF) board meeting held on Thursday, has decided to increase procurement price of tobacco leaves by 20 percent, said a high ranking JCF official.
"Much to the relief of tobacco farmers, JCF board has come to the decision of raising procurement price of tobacco," said Ram Lakshan Sharma, acting general manager of JCF. He said that with the increased price, more farmers are expected to be lured into farming of tobacco, the once lucrative cash crop in the terai belt.
Tobacco price had remained static for more than a decade.
The Supreme Court on Sunday ordered a review of its controversial verdict on Surya Tobacco Pvt. Ltd, ruling that the nearly 10-year old judgment flouted the set apex court precedents.
Justices Anup Raj Sharma, Bal Ram KC and Rajendra Kumar Bhandari ordered a review in response to a plea filed by Finance Ministry on behalf of the government in 1998. The review order came after a closed-door discussion of the justices today.
Passed by the then Justices Hari Prasad Sharma and Harish Chandra Prasad Upadhyay on April 8, 1998, the verdict had nullified the government decision to collect Rs 135.982m excise duty from the tobacco company as per appendix 3 (note 2) of the Finance Act 1993.
While nullifying, the court had then ruled that the "note" should not be taken as substantive law. When the verdict was passed, the present King Gyanendra, the then prince, was holding majority shares in the company. . . .
The verdict is considered one of the most controversial ones in Nepal's judicial history. Even the parliament had discussed the verdict.
Despite of Royal Kingdom of Nepal having signed and ratified the first International Treaty on public health and corporate accountability (FCTC — Framework Convention on Tobacco Control), the tobacco industry has violated the salient features of FCTC.
Surya Nepal, a company with largest stakes of British American Tobacco (BAT) and ITC (Indian Tobacco Company — BAT's Indian Subsidiary), has struck a 5 years deal of Rs 20 million with Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) on January 10, 2007. FCTC bans sponsorship of sports by tobacco industries.
There is enough evidence to substantiate that sponsorship of sports by tobacco companies encourages youth to begin tobacco use. . . .
In the light of such scientific studies and as per Nepal's commitment under FCTC, we hope that the Government of Nepal will strike off the deal between the Cricket Association of Nepal and tobacco industries, and held them accountable for the violations as well.
Nepal's parliament, the House of Representatives, has recently ratified the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which obliges the government to make certain laws and formulate policies and plans to regulate and control the consumption of tobacco. Among them, Nepal shall make laws that will completely prohibit the advertisement, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products. In addition, tobacco products will have to carry a message detailing the harms of consuming the product on at least a 30 percent portion of the package. To control smuggling, tobacco producers will have to print the name of the country where the product will be sold.
The convention was signed by the government on Dec. 3, 2003. However, owing to the absence of parliament, its ratification was delayed. Following ratification by the House of Representatives on Nov. 7, 2006, some obligations to the government were attached. Unlike the delays that usually accompany legislation to comply with conventions or treaties, Nepal has moved fast on anti-tobacco laws, amid immense pressure from anti-tobacco activists. Under the leadership of the Ministry of Health and Population and with the participation of civil society, a draft bill has been prepared. This draft, if legislated, will ultimately affect the production, sale and consumption of tobacco goods. It will also make it difficult for smokers to continue their habit as they have been doing. Civil society is determined to see it passed by the sitting House of Representatives.
Every year about 16,000 people in Nepal die due to smoking and consumption of tobacco. Fifty-five per cent Nepalese use tobacco related things, among them 48 per cent are over 15 years, said a report provided by Child Working in Nepal Concern Centre (CWIN). Of the total tobacco-related deaths 85 per cent are due to lung cancer.
Speakers at an interaction programme on Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) with regard to children organised by CWIN said that children learn from their parents and children of parents who smoke are directly affected.
Chief Specialist at the Ministry of Health and Population Dr. Nirakar Man Shrestha said that the parliament adopted the FCTC on November 2 and is going to draft a law to implement the ICPD.
The government has informed the parliamentary Natural Resources Committee that the royal family is associated with 17 different private companies.
According to details sent by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supply to the sub-committee, the King and other members of royal family have separate investments in Hotel Soaltee, Soaltee enterprises, Annapurna Hotel, Gorkha Travels Pvt Ltd, Surya Tobacco Pvt Ltd, [This graph only]