Tobacco.org

• BAT Donates to Needy Students  

British American Tobacco, Rwanda (BAT) Friday awarded over Rwf 5 million to twelve needy students at the Kigali Independent University(ULK).

The Rwf 5,430,000 will cater for the students' education needs, scholarships and internships. The company's sub-Saharan Africa Area Regulatory Affairs Manager, Kabir Kaleechurn, underscored the role of the private sector in promoting community development.

He said BAT believes in adding value to the community in which it operates not only by being one of the major contributors in terms of taxes but also through helping the needy in Rwanda.

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Public Tobacco Smoking Down - Minisante 

The permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Agnes Binagwaho has revealed that the country's public consumption levels of tobacco have relatively gone down compared to the previous years.

"Through various programmes such as sensitization campaigns on radio, billboards and stickers among others, the government has successfully managed to discourage people from smoking tobacco in public and in turn the levels have gone down."

"We can not however reveal any statistics yet as these will be highlighted during the World Health Day celebrations that are set for next month," Binagwaho told the Sunday Times.

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NTAYOMBYA: To ignore or not to ignore, that, my friends, is the question 

But thrashing the Governors amusing directive isn’t the point of this piece. How many people have heard about the anti- public smoking directive?

I can bet that many people have heard that it was enacted. But here is the million dollar question, “who has actually heeded it”? I have the answer, NOBODY.

If you are like me, a frequent night owl, you’ll notice that there is always a hint of tobacco smoke wafting about. This is whether you’re in a bar, restaurant or nightclub.

I remember an incident a month that got a relative of mine quite hot under the collar. We’d gone to the Sole Luna restaurant to have some pizza, when to my companions chagrin we were soon enveloped by a cloud of smoke from the neighbouring table.

As everyone should know by now, smoking in public areas is illegal but surprisingly enough, when we called the manager he made us leave while the smokers kept puffing away in peace. . . .

I find a law that is unenforceable rather painful.

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High school teens heavy smokers --survey 

A survey by the Rwanda-National Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) which was conducted in 2008 in schools of Rwanda shows that nicotinism prevalence in teenagers is high.

The survey which was aimed at gathering information relating to the prevalence of the nicotinism in children between 13 and 15 years includes data on prevalence of cigarette and other tobacco use and information on five determinants of tobacco use which are; access/availability and price, exposure to second-hand smoke (SHS), cessation, media and advertising, and school curriculum.

According to the survey, the problem of nicotinism, like everywhere else remains a great concern especially among the youth.

A survey of tobacco in secondary schools carried out in 2004 jointly by the Ministry for Health and the Ministry for Education, with the support of World Health Organisation (WHO) indicated that 24 percent of students in secondary school smoked.

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Retailers hike cigarette prices 

A mini-market survey carried out in Kigali City shows that prices of Embassy, Intore and SM cigarettes manufactured by British American Tobacco Rwanda (BAT Rwanda) have increased, some by Frw30 per cigarette.

Most shops in the city are retailing a dozen packets of Intore, that used to sell at Frw3,500, at Frw3,500. A packet that used to be retailed at Frw400 is now Frw500. The World Health Organisation says smoking cigarettes kills almost 5 million people world wide each year. Perhaps it is most significant that smoking drains public health services.

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Parliamentarians oppose tax reduction 

With more than half the 2008 Budget expected to be funded through taxes, parliamentarians have expressed fear that if government goes ahead to reduced or scrape some of the tariffs the move would hurt the economy. . . .

On the issue of cigarettes and tobacco parliamentarians said BAT should be taxed like a foreign company since it ceased its operations in Rwanda.

The parliamentarians were reacting to the Private Sector Federation’s (PSF) demand that some taxes be reduced and those that make Rwanda unattractive for investors; be scrapped completely.

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Editorial: When they smoke we suffer 

Are there smokers in your workplace or at home? Then, there are good reasons for you to get them to quit, or at least stop smoking around you.

If you are exposed to someone else's cigarette smoke, you risk having many health problems. You may not smoke but the second-hand smoke which you are exposed to puts you at risk of several health problems. . . .

We live in a country where smoking in bars and restaurants, etc is already banned, how is the ban enforced where you are? But the ban has not been a success at all and people continue to be silent about It.!

Asking someone who is smoking near you not to smoke is not easy. Let smokers know that you are not objecting to the fact that they smoke but you are asking them not to smoke near you.

Be firm but polite. It is between life and death and you cannot afford to be silent. Smokers too should learn to accept situations where they are offended by non smokers who tell them to keep distance. The too offend many non smokers and their rights do not over weigh the latter's.

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• Rwanda moves to check tobacco advertising 

Rwanda’s health ministry has vowed to take serious measures against tobacco advertisement in the country.

The ministry according to the director of Non Communicable Diseases (NCD) seeks to effect a total ban on advertising and promoting tobacco.

Speaking at this year's ,World No Tobacco' day at Center Iwacu Kabusunzu in Kigali Mr. Bonaventure Nzeyimana said the ban will start with advertisements in newspapers, radios, television, streets, markets, shops and vehicles that distribute tobacco and its products in the country.

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Ban Tobacco Growing, Govt Urged 

An official in the Ministry of Health has called on the government to ban tobacco growing, saying it would reduce the health risks associated with the crop. Dr Bonaventure Nzeyimana, an official in charge of health care and tobacco control in the Health Ministry said yesterday that the government should devise means of introducing alternative health-friendly crops.

"When you calculate very well, the risks from smoking outweigh revenues accrued from the tobacco business in form of taxes," he said.

Nzeyimana was speaking yesterday at Iwacu Kabusunzu Centre during the occasion to mark the International Day against Smoking.

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PANDE: Tobacco smoking can lead to blindness  

Your esteemed newspaper is making appreciable efforts by publishing many articles to awaken the people against the hazards of smoking. World 'No Smoking Day' is pretty close (May 31). It is time to remind people not only of the hazards of smoking but tobacco consumption in general.

Tobacco is a cash crop grown from centuries in many parts of the world. It creates many hazards in the workers on the fields cultivating it. Hazards of musculo – skeletal strain and trauma, exposure to dust of various kinds and fumes of pesticides are the same as for other agricultural workers. But those working with tobacco are at the risk of acute nicotine poisoning or, 'green tobacco sickness.' . . .

Even the use of snuffs and cigars is harmful. They have many toxins and nicotine in high levels. Those who chew tobacco are at a high risk of developing cancers of the oral cavity. Some people keep tobacco in their mouths for long, probably to relish the taste. These persons tend to develop a condition called 'sub mucous fibrosis', where the mouth fails to open fully, thus creating problems in eating or talking.

I have seen boys barely out of their teens suffering from this condition, which has to be corrected surgically. . . .

Breathing exercises have been tried successfully in India in programmes to help individuals to give up any addictions including tobacco. There is absolutely no reason why they would not succeed elsewhere. These exercises help a person to exert greater control over self which is the prerequisite for giving up any addiction.

Let's all join in saving the world from the ills of tobacco.

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MARETE: Woman: Tobacconists’ newest, juiciest prey  

By UN estimates, about 250 million women in the world – excluding those using other forms of tobacco – are daily smokers. About 22% of women in developing countries and 9% in the developed world smoke. The explanation for this disparity, I would learn, is that while tobacco companies are losing clients in the West, the market in the Third World is spiralling. And that of the fairer sex is being ruthlessly pursued. Look around you, and you'll see women and girls increasingly proudly puffing away. That, dear reader, is the tobacconist's deep pocket and smart brains at work! . . .

I already know what smoking does to men; it killed my Dad. People, let's not stand aside and look as our mothers, sisters and daughters fall into the same hole. On ASH's Web site is posted a hand-written letter received by RJR in January 1991, in response to the tobacconist's 'roving eye': "Dear Sirs, You are sending Christmas Cards and Coupons to encourage my 15-year-old daughter to smoke. Please remove my daughter from your mailing list." How brave! All the reason to have more of the 'Dear Sirs' – in the local languages – clogging the tobacco companies' mailboxes, don't you think?

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BAT Rwanda cries out on taxation increase  

Amidst claims of profitability on the market, Bat-Rwanda has felt a pinch, due to the high taxation imposed on its products by the government.The country’s biggest cigarette manufacturing company, with over 84 per cent market share in the country, has expressed dissatisfaction about the country’s tax regime. At a press conference held Monday March 19, at Hotel Mille Colline, Kigali Eric, Badibanga, Bat-Rwanda Managing Director said that taxation may not impact on cigarette smoking. He was reacting to claims that the government strategy to increase excise duty on cigarettes [by 100 per cent] in 2007 budget clings on the conviction that the initiative would reduce smoking.

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• Public Smoking- Minister Blames Parliament for Delay 

The Minister of Health, Jean Damascene Ntawukuriryayo has blamed Parliament for the delay in effecting the ban on public smoking.

"Our considerations could not come into practice because the law governing public smoking in the country has to be debated in Parliament and included in the Official Gazette before being enforced," the Minister told The New Times recently, adding however, that he was optimistic the law would soon be enacted.

Ntawukuriryayo also stressed that his Ministry had put in place the requisite conditions aimed at ending public smoking.

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MARETE: Fourth Dimension - Bans Derailing 'Smoke Free' Goal 

The world over, what is vogue is fighting against this or that. Now the fighting spirit seems to be concentrated on the addictive vegetable introduced to the world by the Native Americans (Red Indians) centuries ago: Tobacco.

Recently in Kenya, the Minister for Health announced an anti-smoking ban that has caused uproar from both smokers and tobacco manufacturers. . . .

Anyhow, this article is not about whether smoking "is harmful" or actually "kills". What worries me is whether the smoker is slowly but surely having their fundamental rights violated. Well, one may be infringing on others' rights by blowing the toxic smoke in their face, but surely, doesn't one have space from where to 'enjoy' his legal poison anymore? . . .

My humble opinion is that the world community should come up with other, humane ways of achieving the 'clean air' goal. Taking a cue from the HIV/Aids fight, I am very convinced that we are winning the war because we have managed to beat stigma and discrimination first. Even with leprosy and polio, we would not have come this far if we had continued our ancestors' ways of banishing lepers and cripples to the forest to be devoured by wild beasts.

. . .

So why don't we try the same approach to smoking? Why don't we, instead of enacting laws that overtly discriminate against a particular group of people, put more emphasis on mass education, 'smokers anonymous', incentives, and price and tax increases to deter smoking? Discrimination breeds resistance. (By the way, what new grand scheme did 'they' come up with on World No Tobacco Day?)

Methinks the world community ought to drop the 'clean-air-end-justifies-murky-means' approach. Probably the reason we are not winning the tobacco war is our double standards.

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• BAT Rwanda benchmarking in corporate social activities, 

British American Tobacco Rwanda has donated 12 tonnes of food to support the population in need within various regions of the country. The donation was presented to the Vice President of Rotary Club Doyen...

Mr Jean-Claude Karayenzi, by BAT Rwanda Managing Director Luc M. Badibanga at the company's Head Offices. "This is a testimony of how various organizations can partner together to shape the future of the community in which we operate," Mr Badibanga said. "Be reassured of BAT Rwanda's long-term commitment to partner with other organizations with the objective to serve the community today and for the future." . . .

"Today's donation is part of this engagement. I am proud to say that British American Tobacco Rwanda will become the benchmark organisation when it comes to social involvement," Badibanga said.

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