Tobacco.org

UP IN SMOKE  

Faced with strong opposition to the draconian measures contained in the Tobacco Control Bill, Government yesterday relaxed some of the prohibitions and rolled back some of the harsher penalties.

Health Minister Jerry Narace in winding up in debate in the Senate yesterday said he was backing down with regret and that it bothered him to have to concede on some of the points.

He said the domestic worker was being put at risk as the children in the homes, in conceding that home could not be defined as a workplace, except where it is used for the purpose of 'manufacture, distribution and trade' of tobacco products.

He said the amendments came in the interest of getting the legislation passed.

Government also removed the ban on sale of single cigarettes which would be affected small vendors and the low income smoker.

It also slashed the penalties-for a number of offences-prohibition on sales by minors, on public displays of tobacco products and on the sales of tobacco products in certain places.

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• Smoke at home  

SMOKERS will only able to enjoy their cigarettes in the comfort of their own home.

This according to Minister of Health Jerry Narace during a press briefing to update the public about the amendment to the 2009 Tobacco Bill at the Ministry's Park Street head office in Port of Spain yesterday.

'People can smoke in their private residences if they wish to, except when the house is used for the purposes of manufacturing, distribution, or trade,' he said.

It will, however, still be an offence for any person to smoke or hold a lighted tobacco product in any enclosed public place such as public transportation terminals, workplaces, bars, restaurants, shopping malls, clubs, cinemas, and sports facilities or any enclosed workplace.

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Government Moves To Clamp Down On The Use of Tobacco. 

Independent Senator Subhas Ramkelawan believes the Tobacco Bill in its present form will cause serious distress to citizens.

In his contribution to the debate in the Senate yesterday, Senator Ramkelawan argued that the intention of Government is a good one, but believes the bill is seriously flawed.

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Govt proposes jail for selling single cigarette 

No more selling of loose cigarettes. If you sell or buy single cigarettes you will have to pay a fine of $12,000 and be imprisoned for six months.

This is one of the provisions of the Tobacco Control Bill which both Opposition and Independent Senators expressed serious difficulty with yesterday.

Speaking in the debate in the Senate, Opposition Senator Wade Mark slammed this prohibition. 'This is draconian legislation. It is legislation to imprison and kidnap the ordinary member of the population. How could it be a criminal offence for a small owner of a parlour to retail one cigarette to an ordinary member of the public?' he asked. 'So you can sell me a pack (of cigarettes) so I can smoke myself to death, but not one or two cigarettes,' he added.

Mark said if someone was trying to kick the smoking habit by buying cigarettes one at a time, the bill would be discouraging this-and doing the opposite of what it was intended to do, which is to curb the use of tobacco.

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Narace wants citizens support for Tobacco Bill  

Health Minister Jerry Narace has called on locals to back legislation that will give Government new powers to curb the use of tobacco in Trinidad and Tobago. “I call on every medical professional, every doctor, every cancer (victim), every individual...to write a letter in support (of the Tobacco Control Bill 2009). Make a statement. Say something in terms of supporting the tobacco control legislation,” Narace appealed. He was delivering the opening remarks at the fourth annual local breast cancer conference, which was hosted last Friday by the Trinidad and Tobago Cancer Society at the Marriott Courtyard Hotel along the Audrey Jeffers Highway near Invaders Bay. Narace said that the benefits for the population’s health from tobacco control were well-recognised and vastly supported among health professionals around the world.

According to Information from the Ministry of Health, the sale of cigarettes was on the increase despite increased taxes on the product.

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Govt amends 'workplace' clause  

While Government is seeking a complete ban on smoking in public and workplaces, it wants to make sure that private residences are not captured in the Tobacco bill which has penalties ranging from a $10,000 fine to $500,000 fine and imprisonment.

Government has therefore amended the definition of workplace to specify it only includes homes "where such residences or vehicles are also used for commercial purposes".

Speaking in the Tobacco bill in the Senate yesterday, Health Minister Jerry Narace stated: "This amendment is to ensure that the definition of workplace does not capture domestic workers, as our policy is not to make private residents subject to this Bill, other than when such residences are used for commercial purposes". . . .

Under the bill there would be a complete ban on smoking in public transportation terminals, workplaces, retail establishments, including bars, restaurants and shopping malls, clubs, cinemas, concert halls, sports facilities, pool and bingo halls, publicly owned facilities rented out for events; and any other facilities that are accessible to the public.

The bill also prohibits any person from smoking within 15 metres of any place that caters primarily to children, such as schools, children's playgrounds and amusement parks.

The bill also prohibits the publicising of the name of a sponsoring entity where tobacco sponsorships, tobacco advertising and promotion are present. "As such, tobacco companies are permitted to sponsor events but they cannot take any overt credit for such sponsorship," Narace said.

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Browne defends alcohol and tobacco hikes  

Government's move to increase to cost of alcohol and tobacco will help save lives, says Minister in the Ministry of Finance Mariano Browne.

Browne defended the increases at the Senate sitting yesterday saying that Government intends to promote healthy living and in effect reduce the amount of money it spends on health care.

He also said this measure would prevent young adults from consuming too much alcohol and tobacco.

"We are acutely aware and we are sensitive to the fact that cheap booze puts it in easier reach of young adults and in some instances children. On this basis alone we consider that the new rates on excise duties on alcoholic beverages and tobacco are indeed long overdue and well justified," he said.

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LUKE: Living without my tobacco 

While the Earth stopped for some when Government said the price of tobacco products would be increased by 15 per cent from September 8, it was puffing as usual for others who simply didn’t care. Question is though, when Government said that the increase was aimed at promoting healthier lifestyles, were they simply messing with us? After all, the treasury stands to gain some $30 million in revenue, just through the love of the good old ‘blends’. . . .

The leaders of our nation have simply chosen to make a mint at the ignorance of the smoker in T&T. You smoke, they get more money to pave the highways again, build a higher skyline and possibly even purchase that private jet. Smoke on!

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Alcohol, tobacco hikes approved in Parliament  

The Provisional Collection of Taxes Order, which will see the legalisation of increases in the price of alcohol and tobacco, as well as hikes in road penalties, was passed in the Lower House of Parliament, Red House, Port of Spain, on Wednesday night without Opposition support. . . .

Caroni East MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh suggested that Government embark on an aggressive advertising campaign against alcohol and tobacco use. He also recommended that a certain percentage be taken from the profits at the National Lotteries Control Board (NLCB) to dedicate towards disease prevention, as is done in Canada, where money from the lottery system is used to fund the Princess Margaret Hospital, which treats cancer patients.

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'Increase could cause cigarette black market'  

The latest increase in cigarette prices could create a black market for tobacco in the country. according to Jean-Pierre du Coudray, Managing Director of the West Indian Tobacco Company Limited (Witco).

He believes the increase could lead to an importation of cheaper products into the market.

"I've been trying to meet with the Finance Minister for quite some time to discuss the excise and import duty on tobacco," he told the Express yesterday.

"I'm not sure if the increase is a revenue cutback exercise or a consumer reduction exercise. I'm hoping it is a revenue cutback one because if it is a consumer reduction one they are going about it the wrong way. They are going to create a black market in the country."

Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira announced in the 2009/2010 Budget on Monday that there will be a 15 per cent increase in excise and import duties on tobacco products

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Narace: More children smoking 

Scores of school children are puffing their lives away and seem to be oblivious to the dangers of smoking.

Health Minister Jerry Narace said on Friday that Trinidad and Tobago had the fourth highest prevalence of smoking in the region among school children between the ages of 13 and 15 years.

Narace expressed concern over the high prevalence of cigarette smoking among the nation's youths in an address at the World No Tobacco Day Awards Ceremony hosted at the Ministry of Health's head office in Port of Spain.

An award was presented to the Trinidad and Tobago National Tobacco Control Committee by the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) in recognition of its work in the fight against smoking.

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I QUIT! 

It's like a voice in the back of my head insisting that I get a smoke and if I don't, the voice just nags until I give in," Semper shared.

Semper is not alone. In fact, according to Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Health Senator Wesley George, there are over 200,000 smokers in Trinidad and Tobago. George shared the figures during his speech on the Tobacco Control Bill at the Association of Psychiatrists of Trinidad and Tobago's recent symposium at the Kapok Hotel, the theme of which was "The Social ills of Cigarette Smoking".

Statistics provided at the symposium showed that of the 1.22 billion smokers worldwide, 1 billion of these are in developing countries. Smoking is on the decline in developed countries such as the US but on the increase in the developing countries. Trinidad and Tobago has the fourth highest rate of smokers amongst secondary school children between the ages of 13 and 15 years. . . .

But the new weapon in the fight against smoking is the drug Champix (Varenicline). This has promising results and compared to Zyban, 44 per cent of smokers quit by the end of 3 months as compared to 30 per cent with Zyban.

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Cigarette prices increase today 

Cigarettes will burn a bigger hole in smokers' pockets from today.

Champs Fleurs-based producer the West Indian Tobacco Company Ltd yesterday announced price increases across several cigarette brands.

From this morning, the prices of Dunhill, du Maurier, Pall Mall and Broadway will retail at higher prices. . . .

Witco executive Jean-Pierre Du Coudray said then the increase was caused by three factors: an increase in the price of raw materials, especially imported tobacco leaf and the rising cost of oil on wrapping material; rising global costs of transport, freight and insurance; and the impact of inflation on workers' salaries.

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• MULLER: Right to light up  

Nazma muller talks to managing director of West Indian Tobacco Company Jean-Pierre du Coudray, a graduate of the University of Western Ontario, Canada, who feels that legislation for tobacco use should also protect smokers, and producers.

Q: Do you smoke?

A: Yes, but it's not because I work here. I've been smoking since I was 22. It's my choice. I was smoking for nine years, before I started working here. It's certainly not a prerequisite for working at Witco. In fact, less than 20 per cent of our employees smoke. In 2006, we discontinued a policy where every employee who smoked used to get, depending on their grade, anything between four to eight cartons of cigarettes a month. This is in line with our responsible approach-if you're an adult and you want to smoke, you have to go out there and buy your cigarettes like everybody else. . . .

Compared to the US and the UK, cigarettes are very cheap in T&T. How does Witco do it?

I wouldn't say they're cheap. They're average. In Guyana and Suriname, they're cheaper than here. What happened is we closed our factories in Jamaica, Guyana and Suriname, and that capacity was transferred to Witco. We brought in high-tech machines from Germany, so now we're much more efficient in terms of economies of scale.

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The West Indian Tobacco Company Limited Says Tobacco Legislation Now Before Parliament.  

The West Indian Tobacco Company Limited Says Tobacco Legislation Now Before Parliament only seeks to criminalize tobacco products, rather than seek to ensure a reduction in the use by those under age.

Speaking on yesterday’s showdown programme on i95.5 fm managing director of the company Jean Pierre Decoudrey said the government’s approach is ill-advised.

Mr. Decoudrey said government needs to take one step at a time

Mr. Decoudrey said it is still not illegal to advertize tobacco products in this country

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