Tobacco.org

Owners divided on smoke-free bars  

Bars in Port of Spain are clamping down on smoking.

Customers were not allowed to 'light up' when the Express visited several bars in the downtown area yesterday.

Cigarettes, though, were still visible despite the law calling for them to be hidden.

The move from 'smoking allowed' to 'no smoking allowed' comes after Part III, Sections 1 to 9 of the Tobacco Control Act came into effect on February 17 prohibiting smoking in enclosed public places.

'I actually like it. I think this will help people stop smoking,' said a representative of Princess Casino on Independence Square, Port of Spain.

The casino used to be filled with smoke but, since the law, smokers are now being asked to step outside, he said.

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Health Minister hosts International, Regional and Local Tobacco Control Organizations 

Senator the Honourable Jerry Narace Minister of Health hosted several representatives of international, regional and local tobacco control organizations at the Ministry of Health’s Head Office on March 03, 2010. Those present at the meeting included Ms Lorraine Fry, General Manager of the Non-Smoker’s Rights Association of Canada, Ms Barbara McGah, Project Manager of the Caribbean Tobacco Control Project, and representatives of the Trinidad and Tobago Cancer Society. The meeting was held to facilitate an exchange of learnings regarding tobacco control, including the achievements made by Trinidad and Tobago in implementing tobacco control legislation. The information shared at the meeting will provide guidance on the way forward to all the parties involved.

Ms. Lorraine Fry took the opportunity to congratulate Minister Narace and the citizens of Trinidad & Tobago on the proclamation of parts of the Tobacco Control Act on February 17, 2010

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• Prison officers 'will uphold law' Uproar in jail over smoking ban  

Acting Commissioner of Prisons Martin Martinez says his officers will not be daunted or intimidated by recent attacks against them by condemned inmates over a cigarette-smoking ban on Death Row.

Martinez was referring to a hunger strike, which began last Friday by 37 convicted killers, who are protesting the smoking ban.

The acting Commissioner imposed the ban in keeping with the provisions of the Tobacco Control Bill, which prohibits smoking in enclosed public places. The legislation took effect on February 17 (Ash Wednesday).

In response, prisoners on Death Row hurled faeces and shouted obscenities and threats at officers assigned to the condemned block on Monday at the Port of Spain prison.

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• Non-smokers breathe relief  

It has long been the complaint of non-smokers that they are often left with smoke-filled clothing after a night out clubbing. But this problem has now gone up in smoke.

Since February 17, Part III and Sections 1 to 9 of the Tobacco Control Act have come into effect in this country. Included in the Part III of the new legislation is Section 12 of the Act which prohibits smoking in enclosed public areas, including bars, clubs, casinos and poolhalls.

Friday nights have always been known as a popular night for partying so this Friday was the first true test of the new legislation.

The Sunday Express hit the streets on Friday night to see exactly how the new law had affected smokers and clubbing in general.

For bar patrons the problem was easily rectified-patrons just walked outside when the tobacco urge kicked in.

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• Anti-tobacco law in effect 

A couple of weeks ago, the Minister of Health announced that some parts of the 2009 Tobacco Act would come into effect on Ash Wednesday. Doubtless, this timing was in the hope that some people, in the spirit of Lent, would give up smoking entirely. The bulk of smokers, however, will not stop smoking immediately, because the law is passed or Lent has started. It is thus important that they understand what impact the law will have on them. It is also important for owners of business places and employers to appreciate their obligations.

No smoking in enclosed place

Parts I and III (and some sections of Part II) of the Tobacco Act are set to come into effect. While Part I relates chiefly to definitions and the power of officers to search and so on, Part III more significantly deals with prohibitions that will now come into effect. Anyone who runs a business or rents out premises that operates a business will be affected by this law, and must familiarise himself with what are the prohibitions under the new act. Part III comprises 11 sections from Section 12 to Section 22. . . .

Anyone who owns a T-shirt that promotes cigarette use or any company that manufactures or sells tobacco products must be careful whether and when they wear such clothing, come next Wednesday.

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• Smoking ban in enclosed public places starts Wed 

FROM Ash Wednesday, smokers will no longer be allowed to light up in any enclosed public place. The Ministry of Health yesterday issued a release, announcing that the Tobacco Control Act, passed back in December 2009, will be proclaimed by President George Maxwell Richards and enforced in phases from Wednesday onwards. . . .

At the opening of special meeting of the Council for Social and Human Development (a body made up of Caribbean Health Ministers) last week at the Hyatt, Port of Spain, Health Minister Jerry Narace said he made a commitment to undertake a public education initiative before enforcing all of the clauses of the Act and to work on the specific regulations to support the Act.

'The Ministry of Health will now intensify its public education campaign regarding the Tobacco Control Act, the upcoming proclamation, and the health effects of tobacco use and second hand smoke in general. We shall also be launching a Tobacco Cessation Campaign

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RAMPERSAD: The new discrimination  

By the time you read this, the Tobacco Control Bill will be an Act, awaiting only the proclamation of the President before it is a punishable offence to smoke just about anywhere. The Act, I expect, will join those preventing littering and mandating the use of seatbelts (among many other bits of legislation relating to motoring behaviour) that, on paper, make the country appear awfully progressive but which in reality are seldom enforced.

The Tobacco Control Act will stand proudly as another law that will be utilised by law enforcement for nuisance benefit. . . .

That the dangers of second hand smoke are scientifically contested, that as far as I am aware there is yet to be a death certificate stating cause of death as second hand smoking or smoking even are issues far too heavy for us here to consider. It is considerably easier to parrot internationally fashionable legislation and issue snide remarks about the powerful tobacco lobby without reference to the powerful anti-smoking lobby that has over simplified the issue of smoking in public in order to generate widespread support for its well-financed agenda. . . .

What began as a fair and reasonable campaign to encourage smokers to respect the wishes of non-smokers has evolved into outright hostility by anti-smoking activists and the demonisation of anyone who chooses to smoke. This has worked so well that smokers themselves have become voiceless victims, huddling to tief a smoke, targets of unprovoked verbal sanctions, pariahs who have also internalised these messages and consider themselves engaging in 'a nasty habit'.

This authoritarian piece of legislation undermines the civil liberties of citizens to an unacceptable extent and legitimises discrimination against smokers to an extent that infringes on their human rights. This is not the same as saying that there ought to be no control at all on smoking or that all the data relating to the risks of smoking is inaccurate.

But to impose such hefty fines, to consider outlawing the sale of single cigarettes, to enter people's homes and legislate on the consumption of, I repeat, a legal product, is surely going too far. But then again, if there is one country in the world these days where going too far is commonplace, Trinidad and Tobago appears to be it.

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Tobacco disaster  

Trinidad and Tobago Cancer Society chairman Dr George Laquis estimates the Government needs to put out a start-up capital of $20 million to provide a comprehensive programme to curb tobacco smoking in T&T. The society, which has been at the forefront in the fight against tobacco usage because of the risk of contracting cancer, was prepared to be of assistance to the State, and he expected the business community to chip in. But Laquis wants no financial help from West Indian Tobacco Company (Witco), the country’s sole cigarette manufacturer. “Witco should have no hand in this programme. Their motivation is simple...undermine what we do. “They pretend to be a good corporate citizen, but they are just vultures,” declared Laquis. . . .

Asked if the State should subsidise the “patch,” which is affixed to the skin and doles out steadily decreasing doses of nicotine that is the main cause of smoking addiction, Laquis said in reality the patch was not very efficient, in effect “half-way nonsense.” And there are other tried and tested medical routes to assist smokers to quit, he indicated. He mentioned the use of lasers, acupuncture and drugs like Zaiban and Chantix. . . .

According to Laquis, the State needs to invest at least $20 million in a smoking prevention programme, hiring professionals like psychologists to encourage youth to stop the habit, or stay away from it if they have not yet been hooked. “That is the cheapest money the State will ever spend.

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Tobacco bill next week  

when the House next sits on December 4, the main item on the agenda for discussion will be the Tobacco Control Bill 2009. The bill was passed with amendments in the Senate on November 20. One of the objectives of the bill is to ban smoking in certain public places.

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GIBBS: I’m holding the smoking gun . . . 

I’m just old enough to remember when people came in twos. There were two types of people; the cool, suave and sophisticated smoker, and the pale, bland and totally unattractive non-smoker. Back then tobacco companies ruled the world, and your entire life was diced up into whether or not you lit-up. Restaurants, cinemas, office space and even planes were divided into sections. In 1973 the first non-smoking sections were introduced on airlines, and the trend never stopped. My first glimpse of the anti-tobacco machine came as a teenager watching a debate on CNN. The battle cry back then was to ban smoking on domestic flights within the US. It would also be the first and last time I would see someone really trying to defend the rights of smokers. . . .

I laughed when I heard Attorney General John Jeremie talking about the powerful “tobacco complex,” working behind the scenes to stop the legislations they proposed. You see, every time I walk to the corner store to buy a pack of smokes I pay close to 60 per cent of the purchase price in taxes to the Government... for nothing. There is no health plan for smokers . . .

I am fully aware of the vocal backlash I, as a smoker, will get from my non-smoking Trinbagonians. However, I feel I must pick up the smoking gun and go on record, because my “pusher” seems to be hiding in the dark. The disdain of smokers seems to now live in Mt D’Or. It is just inconceivable to me, whose crime it is to buy your product, that was still legal up to press time, that I can be treated like a bastard child that not even the father/pusher seems to be willing to take care of.

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LETTER: Tackling the real smoking issue  

The real problem with smoking in general is not casual smoking, e.g. after-dinner or at outdoor functions. It is smoking as an addiction and being exposed repeatedly to second-hand smoke in confined places. The proposed draconian measures are out of proportion. Property owners should have the legal power to prohibit all smoking on their premises, whether residential or otherwise. Where it is permitted it must be for regular tobacco not narcotics; and they must have a duty (when they opt for providing for smokers) to set up open-air venues, e.g. roof-top, or separated ventilation systems in designated areas. Obviously, in some locations, smoking can never be permitted by anyone e.g. at gas stations and other danger points. One way to begin to tackle the problem of addictions is to minimise additives to tobacco and the sheathing or remove the additives altogether. More effort would go into making the tobacco flavourable and the sheath complementary; and more expensive tobacco would have to be used. . . .

Tobacco hoarding in/by the First World should be penalised. Poorer countries could then farm tobacco fairly and even produce and market their own brands/flavours. Finally, advertising good tobacco might be permissible, shown in an intelligent context having nothing to do with curvy torsos swaying or posing, fast vehicles, flashy fleshy feting, etc.

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EDITORIAL: Better weapons in war on smoking 

It should have been a relatively simple piece of legislation-ban smoking in public places. But the Tobacco Bill, which was passed in the Senate on Tuesday night, became embroiled in heated debate, largely because the Government included provisions which were excessively punitive or which would have transgressed on the privacy of citizens.

But the way this debate was framed highlights a wider problem in respect to government's approach to health policy-to wit, the assumption that punishment is more effective than persuasion when it comes to combating lifestyle diseases.

Additionally, there is a predilection for using scare tactics which are not based on sound data. For example, claims were made that most smokers start smoking between the ages of 13 to 15-in fact, this is only the age when an individual might try his first cigarette, but experimentation does not in most cases lead to habit.

The public was also told that Trinidad and Tobago has 21 per cent of the region's smokers but, since we also have 21 per cent of the Anglophone Caribbean's population, all this figure means is that our smoking rate is the same as that of the other islands. . . .

Instead, policy messages which portray smoking as 'uncool' or as a profitable ploy by 'big business' tend to be more effective. Taxes which raise cigarette prices are also a good measure for reducing teenage smoking.

If, therefore, the Government really wants to improve the health of the populace, these are the kinds of strategies they should be using.

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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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