Tobacco.org

Secondhand smoke remains a challenge despite laws 

While several African countries are making progress in implementing smokefree laws, nearly 90 percent of people on the continent remain without meaningful protection from secondhand smoke.

According to Global Voices: Rebutting the Tobacco Industry Winning Smokefree Air, a report released on the eve of the African Organisation for Research & Training in Cancer (AORTIC) conference, more than 400-million people are protected by "comprehensive" smokefree laws with a further 500-million covered by "strong" smokefree laws.

"Comprehensive" smokefree laws do not allow any designated smoking rooms and include only extremely limited exemptions, while "strong" laws allows for these rooms.

The report points out that while there has been rapid progress there is a long way to go with people in low and middle-income countries set to bear the brunt of the global tobacco epidemic. Without clear tobacco control policies, tobacco-related illness, disability and death will follow.

The report calls on governments to continue to act if they are to meet the goal of protecting everyone from secondhand smoke by 2012 with most countries having to considerably strengthen existing smoking restrictions in order to meet the target.

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Africa Faces Surge In Tobacco-Related Deaths 

Africans face a surge in cancer deaths amid growing rates of tobacco use and a lack of laws that protect people from second-hand smoke, according to a joint report released Wednesday by the Global Smokefree Partnership and the American Cancer Society (ACS).

The continent, which accounts for 14 percent of the world’s population, has just four percent of the world’s smokers today. But African nations are set to undergo the highest increase in the rate of tobacco use among developing countries, with more than half the continent expected to double its tobacco use within 12 years if current trends continue, the report found.

This comes at a time when nearly 90 percent of Africans have no meaningful protection from secondhand smoke.

"If we don't act now on tobacco control in Africa, millions of lives will be lost because tobacco is now becoming an issue in Africa," Tom Glynn of the Global Smokefree Partnership told the AFP news agency.

The report, entitled “Global Voices: Rebutting the Tobacco Industry, Winning Smokefree Air”, also offers some hope.

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Experts fear Africa pandemic from rise in smoking  

Africa faces a surge in cancer deaths unless action is taken in the next decade to stem rising smoking levels in a continent where anti-tobacco laws remain rare, U.S. scientists said Wednesday.

More than half the continent will double its tobacco use within 12 years if current trends continue, the American Cancer Society (ACS) said in a report which found that 90 percent of people living there have no protection from secondhand smoke.

Some African countries have introduced smoking bans but most have not, and smoke-free public areas are rare.

"For the first time in history, we have the tools in hand to prevent a pandemic," Otis W. Brawley, the ACS's chief medical officer, said in a statement with the report, which was presented at a cancer conference in Tanzania.

"Smoke-free public places are one example of a low-cost and extremely effective intervention that must be implemented now to protect health."

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• Out of Africa: The Tobacco War's New Battleground 

Africa is already beleaguered by infectious diseases, such as AIDS and malaria, but now the continent's residents face growing health threats from preventable illnesses brought on by lifestyle changes, such as from poor diets and smoking.

In an effort to stave off these maladies, advocates have turned their sights on tobacco use, which is on the rise throughout Africa and projected to double by 2021. Of the approximately one billion people across the world who use tobacco, 60 million to 80 million live in Africa.

Along with lobbying for higher tobacco taxes and broader public health messages, advocates are hoping to eliminate smoking in public places in an effort to protect people from both first- and second-hand smoke.

About a billion people worldwide live in municipalities where smoking is outlawed in public places, according to a report published Tuesday by Global Smokefree Partnership (a joint initiative backed by the American Cancer Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and 14 other entities) and announced in time for the African Organization for Research and Training in Cancer's (AORTIC) "Cancer in Africa" conference taking place this week in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Reducing secondhand smoke exposure can reduce the rates of lung cancer, heart attacks and breathing trouble in populations.

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Some 90 per cent of Africans still exposed to second-hand smoking 

arly 90 per cent of people in Africa remain without meaningful protection from second-hand smoke, according to a global report launched in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday.

The report, "Global Voices: Rebutting the Tobacco Industry, Winning Smoke-Free Air," also reveals that by 2010, smoking will claim the lives of six million people worldwide, 72 per cent of whom reside in low-income countries.

Though the report points to signs of hope, it states that many African countries are fighting against the tobacco industry's aggressive efforts to stop public health interventions by putting smoke-free laws into place.

The report, published by the Global Smoke-free Partnership, was launched at a media summit on Fighting the Cancer and Tobacco Pandemic in Africa hosted by the American Cancer Society (ACS) in advance of the AORTIC Cancer in Africa Conference beginning on November 12 in Dar es Salaam.

It notes that if the current trends continue, tobacco will kill seven million people annually by 2020 and more than eight million annually by 2030. . . .

Dr. Glynn said implementation remained a challenge in many places, including Ghana, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Uganda.

He mentioned other obstacles as identifying resources for implementation and opposition to smoke-free laws by the tobacco industry.

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Report says about 90 percent of Africans not protected by smoke-free laws 

As African nations are poised to undergo the highest increase in the rate of tobacco use among developing countries, nearly 90 percent of people on the continent remain without meaningful protection from secondhand smoke, according to a new report released on Wednesday.

The report, "Global Voices: Rebutting the Tobacco Industry, Winning Smokefree Air," pointed to signs of hope, however.

Several African countries are fighting against the tobacco industry's aggressive efforts to stop public health interventions by putting smoke-free laws into place, protecting more than 100 million more people since 2007.

The report was published by the multi-partner Global Smokefree Partnership.

"For the first time in history, we have the tools in hand to prevent a pandemic," said Dr. Otis W. Brawley, the chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society.

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For the first time in history, we have the tools in hand to prevent a pandemic.
Dr. Otis W. Brawley, the chief medical officer of the American Cancer Societym, on the release of "Global Voices: Rebutting the Tobacco Industry, Winning Smokefree Air.".

Experts fear Africa pandemic from rise in smoking 

Africa faces a surge in cancer deaths unless action is taken in the next decade to stem rising smoking levels in a continent where anti-tobacco laws remain rare, U.S. scientists said Wednesday.

More than half the continent will double its tobacco use within 12 years if current trends continue, the American Cancer Society (ACS) said in a report which found that 90 percent of people living there have no protection from secondhand smoke.

Some African countries have introduced smoking bans but most have not and smoke-free public areas are few.

"For the first time in history, we have the tools in hand to prevent a pandemic," Otis W. Brawley, the ACS's chief medical officer, said in a statement with the report, which was presented at a cancer conference in Tanzania.

"Smoke-free public places are one example of a low-cost and extremely effective intervention that must be implemented now to protect health."

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• Cancer Experts Meet to Head Off Rise in African Tobacco Use 

Health officials say they have a "golden opportunity" to head off an epidemic in tobacco use in Africa and prevent many cancer cases.

While rich nations have taken action to reduce smoking, the World Health Organization says tobacco consumption in Africa is expected to grow by than four percent a year. That's why cancer experts are holding a major conference this week in Tanzania (Nov 11– 14).

Among those attending is Dr. Thomas Glynn, Director of International Cancer Control for the American Cancer Society and acting head of the Global Smokefree Partnership.

"This is really the first time in the history of public health that we have the opportunity to prevent an epidemic…. There's no doubt tobacco is on the rise here, but it's the one continent where we are ahead of the ball at this point," he says.

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• Stopping tobacco production not solution to increasing cancer cases 

The government told the National Assembly that it is going to continue supporting tobacco farming despite the increase of cancer cases caused by cigarette smoking since that is not the solution to the problem.

The Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Food Security and Co-operatives, Dr Mathayo David Mathayo said that one of the factors for not stopping the production is that 85% of all tobacco produced in the country is exported, thus only the remaining 15 is consumed in the county.

"Tobacco farming and production employs 1.3 per cent of population, which is equal to 500,000 Tanzanians and their families depending on the crop for their livehoods," explained Dr Mathayo.

However, the deputy minister acknowledged that cigarette smoking has both long term and short term effects, saying that it is the reason for restrictions in cigarette advertising, health warning on the packets and not allowing it to be sold for persons under 18 years.

"I cannot choose between the economic advantages of tobacco production and the health effects that cigarette smokers get, but the precautions and warnings ensure that those using the product know its effects and are all adults, thus have the ability to make decision for themselves," he said.

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• Where smokers are a menace 

MAZENGO Madanga, a 55-year-old peasant from Chilonwa Village in Dodoma Rural District, who came into the municipality to beg recently, says he took up tobacco smoking nearly 20 years ago. He admits with resentment that tobacco is so addictive that abusers fail to kick the habit.

He says a friend with who he tended cattle introduced him to tobacco smoking. Initially, he says, he found it difficult to inhale the smoke that appeared to assail not only his chest and lungs but his nostrils too. What he was smoking was crushed, sun-dried tobacco leaves rolled in paper.

Twenty years down the road, today, Madanga can no longer kick the habit. In fact, apart from smoking raw tobacco, he sniffs snuff as well. He tucks some of it inside his lower lip, a practice that increased the foul smell that invariably emanates from his mouth.

A medical doctor with the municipality's Regional Hospital, who prefers anonymity, says that health complications, especially respiratory impairments, take many lives in Dodoma Region. . . .

. But the government has a good rule of thumb that requires warning signs posted on each cigarette advertisement saying it has been determined that "cigarette smoking is dangerous to your health."

The same advert is displayed on cigarrete packs and is designed to warn smokers and potential smokers against the habit. But the advert does not seem to have much impact on the fraternity of smokers. One reason is that smoking takes its tall after twenty or more years.

So, the law makes it imperative for tobacco companies to warn consumers of their products on underlying dangers of smoking. A former Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Health, Mr Hussein Mwinyi, told the National Assembly last June, 2006 that smoking in public places is a crime.

He says smokers sometimes pass problems to non-smokers around them through what is known as passive smoking and that parents who smoke near infants unwittingly put the child's health at risk. He also says a spouse who smokes endangers his or her non-smoking partner.

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Tanzania Cigarette Co. Says 2008 Profit Rose 27% (Update1)  

Tanzania Cigarette Co., the country’s largest cigarette maker, said profit rose 27 percent last year as sales increased.

The company posted net income of 31.1 billion Tanzanian shillings ($23.8 million) for the year to Dec. 31, compared with 24.4 billion shillings a year earlier, it said in a statement published in the Dar es Salaam-based Citizen today.

Japan Tobacco International, a unit of Japan Tobacco Inc., the world’s third-largest tobacco manufacturer, owns 75 percent

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Serengeti tobacco farmers to get 1.6bn/-  

Over 1,500 farmers in Serengeti district are expected to get 1.6bn/- from tobacco this season. Serengeti District Commissioner, Mr Edward ole Lenga, said yesterday that farmers in the district expect to harvest around 800 tonnes of tobacco.

Alliance One Tanzanian Ltd company is buying the cash crop through its branch office based in Mugumu town. " There is a big turn up of farmers selling tobacco to the Alliance One Tanzania and they are happy with the deal", said Mr Kolimba, refuting recent media reports which alleged that some tobacco growers were reluctant to sell their crop to that company.

He described the report as misleading, calling farmers to continue co-operating with the Morogoro-based tobacco firm, in developing tobacco growing in the district. He warned farmers against smuggling tobacco to the neighbouring Kenya via 'panya' routes, saying that those who would be caught doing so will be taken to task.

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African farmers turning their backs on tobacco  

MOST African farmers grow tobacco because they are poor and lack alternative ways to earn a living, but with encouragement, many Tanzanian farmers are giving the killer crop the cold shoulder.

This is according to Lutgard Kagaruki, from the Tanzania Tobacco Control Forum, addressing a panel at the World Health Organization tobacco control conference in Durban, South Africa this week.

Tanzania is the second biggest grower of tobacco in Africa after Malawi, but many tobacco farmers have been ''enslaved in permanent debt to the tobacco companies'' and want to get out, Kagaruki was quoted as saying in latest media reports from South Africa.

''The tobacco companies give subsidies and loans for them to buy fertilizer, chemicals (pesticides) and seed. But then they under-grade the crops and set low prices. The farmers can't repay the loans and find themselves enslaved in permanent debt bondage,'' said Kagaruki.

The 80,000 tobacco farmers in the country earn an estimated $1 a day, she added.

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• African farmers turn backs on tobacco 

Most African farmers grow tobacco because they are poor and lack alternative ways to earn a living, but with encouragement, many Tanzanian farmers are giving the killer crop the cold-shoulder.

This is according to Lutgard Kagaruki, from the Tanzania Tobacco Control Forum, who addressed a panel at the World Health Organisation's tobacco control conference in Durban this week.

Tanzania is the second biggest grower of tobacco in Africa after Malawi, but many tobacco farmers were "enslaved in permanent debt to the tobacco companies" and wanted to get out, said Kagaruki. . . .

While tobacco is Tanzania's second biggest foreign exchange earner, bringing about $55,5-million into the country in 2003/4, one of the country's cancer institutes, the Ocean Road Cancer Institute, reported spending $30-million treating smoking-related cancers during the same period.

However, Dr Yusuf Salojee, from South Africa's National Council Against Smoking, warned that finding alternative livelihoods for farmers does not work as a tobacco control measure.

"With the collapse of Zimbabwe's tobacco farms after land seizures, all that happened was that Tanzania, Zambia and even Mozambique started to grow more tobacco," he told the conference.

"It does not reduce tobacco demand, but rather shifts supply to another country."

Daniel Sibetchem, from Cameroon's health ministry, said there was a worrying increase in smoking among his country's young people, with 44 percent of schoolchildren having tried tobacco.

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Firms donates Sh120m to police force  

The Tanzania Cigarette Company (TCC) has donated $92,000 (Sh120 million) to the Tanzania police force.

The money will facilitate training for top officers in San Diego, California.

TCC general manager Simon Matta presented the donation to police training and operations director Paul Chagonja.

The firm donated Sh90 million to the force last year and has been sponsoring the Tanzanian delegation to the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference since 2001. . . .

However, the World Health Organisation warns that effects of smoking on human health are serious and in many cases, deadly.

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