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Tobacco products in the UAE and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have to undergo content tests before they can go on sale, as part of the new requirements on tobacco in the region, Gulf News has learnt.
Dr Wedad Al Maidoor, head of the National Tobacco Control Committee, told Gulf News the executive office of GCC ministers would soon require testing of tobacco products to ensure the declaration of ingredients, such as tar and nicotine, was correct.
"A laboratory in Jordan will take samples and test them before they can go on sale. We have to make sure that the content labelling is correct," she said.
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The Federal National Council on Tuesday passed a federal bill banning the sale of tobacco or its products to people under the age of 18.
The legislation also prohibits smoking while driving if a child aged less than 12 years is in the vehicle.
The bill, which provides for jail penalties and fines of up to Dh1 million, was passed after a lengthy debate.
The cultivation of tobacco and its products will also be banned, although the bill grants tobacco growers and producers a grace period -- to be determined by the Health Ministry and included in a bylaw -- to close down their businesses.
Council members demanded that these farms be given two years to do so.
The Federal National Council yesterday endorsed a far-reaching proposal to restrict smoking across the Emirates and control how tobacco products are marketed.
It would mean major changes to the habits and social lives of smokers and was welcomed by health care professionals.
Smoking would be prohibited in most closed public spaces, in cars with passengers aged under 12 and anywhere in hospitals, mosques, educational institutions and sport facilities.
Many details were left out. For example, authorities would be allowed to allocate areas within some public premises for smoking, but the rules for smoking rooms were left to an appendix to be released after the law is approved.
The Supreme Council, which is made up of the rulers of the seven emirates, must approve the ban.
In an effort to keep youth away from smoking, the UAE's national tobacco control team will propose prohibitive pricing for cigarettes.
The price of cigarettes could more than quadruple under a proposal from the National Tobacco Control Team in the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi's The National newspaper has reported.
Dr Wedad Al Maidoor, the head of the Ministry of Health's Tobacco Control Team, said she has prepared a plan to raise the price of cigarettes between $5.4 and $13.6 a packet.
Cigarette packets on sale in the UAE will carry photographs of damaged organs and dying cancer patients from early next year.
Tobacco manufacturers will have to print a photograph on the side of every packet of cigarettes to gain entry to the GCC market, it was decided this week. Such photographs are already in use in countries such as Canada and Australia and are believed to have a stronger impact than written warnings.
The decision comes as the Government begins to concentrate on tightening tobacco laws. Residents of the UAE spend about Dh400 million (US$109m) a year on tobacco, while smoking-related products accounted for an additional Dh4 billion between 2004 and 2006.
The Ministerial Legislative Committee, whose task it is to review all new draft federal laws, recently approved the draft anti-smoking law - including a ban on smoking in public places, tightening up on tobacco imports, and forbiding the establishment of factories for tobacco products.
I have no disagreement with any of the above, even though I am, foolishly, still a smoker. . . .
To what extent, I wonder, have the draughtsmen of the law taken into account the fact that in November next year, Abu Dhabi will stage its own Formula One Grand Prix for the first time? Are the teams sponsored by tobacco companies to be told that they cannot participate? I doubt it. . . .
it is of relevance to the national heritage - and that is the proposal that the cultivation of tobacco in the UAE should be forbidden.
Most UAE residents, whether citizens or expatriates, including, perhaps, most or all of our legal draughtsmen, are probably unaware that there is a small-scale tobacco growing industry in the Emirates. You have to look hard to find it, but on small fields tucked away in the mountains, tobacco has been grown as a cash crop, probably for centuries, perhaps originally introduced from the Americas by the Portuguese. . . .
The latest Statistical Yearbook of the Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO, suggests that the UAE's annual production of tobacco is 1,000 ton . . .
Is the traditional cultivation of tobacco here to be declared illegal simply because it hasn't really been taken into account? When the draft law was discussed by the Federal National Council, did FNC members from tobacco-growing Emirates simply fail to consider the interests of the small-scale farmers whom they are supposed to represent?
I am perfectly happy for the new law to ban commercial-scale tobacco cultivation - that is an industry the UAE doesn't need, and has never had. It would be a pity, though to consign this tiny part of the UAE's heritage to history in the pursuit of an anti-smoking agenda without evaluating the possible impact of a ban on the viability of traditional agricultural practices that are already difficult to sustain.
A new fatwa or Islamic edict has been issued in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which states that smoking in public is forbidden under Islam as it causes harm to others. The fatwa, issued by the General Authority for Islamic Affairs and Endowments (GEA), states that 17 violations of Islamic law are committed when people smoke in public, The National newspaper reported.
The GEA is in charge of implementing the UAE's policy for Islamic affairs and endowments.
Smoking is said to "dope the eyelids and limbs, which could cause intoxication for some people when they take up the habit, and the Prophet has forbidden all things that intoxicate and dope", the report quoted the GEA statement as saying.
"It is no longer a mystery to anyone that it has ill-effects on the smoker's health, money, children and those that surround him," it said.
Ban on smoking in public places and selling tobacco to people under 20 have cut sales of cigarettes in the GCC by 12 per cent, according to industry experts.
Total sales across the region are about 60 billion cigarettes a year and Saudi Arabia is the largest market with an annual total of 12 billion. Small- and medium-sized tobacco manufacturers expect their business volume to decline further due to increased taxes and restrictions in regional markets.
But global giants such as British American Tobacco and Philip Morris International (PMI), which dominate the market, recorded an increased sales in the first quarter of 2008 mainly due to higher turnover in East Europe, the Middle East and Africa (Eema).
Dubai: Smoking in cars and public parks will be addressed in the upcoming UAE tobacco control law, places health officials have described as "grey areas".
The tobacco control law, expected to be ratified by November, will cover all the points required by the World Health Organisation Framework Convention of Tobacco Control, including protection of non-smokers, quit smoking programmes and decreasing access to tobacco products.
Humaid Mohammad Obaid Al Qutami, Health Minister, told the press after the 'UAE World No Tobacco Day' observances that the ministry will set parameters for implementing the law.
Dubai: Tobacco prices in the UAE are set to double every two years under a new proposal by the Ministry of Health, as part of the effort to cut smoking rates.
The UAE is a signatory to the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC), which aims to curb tobacco access and advertising, increasing prevention and protecting non-smokers, and helping people quit using tobacco products.
Dr Wedad Al Maidour, head of the UAE Tobacco Control Committee, told Gulf News she was submitting a proposal to the Ministry of Economy to double current prices.
Ajman Municipality on Sunday banned the sale, import, storage and possession of chewing tobacco and will heavily fine anyone found disobeying the new law.
Administrative order No.15 aims to maintain a clean and healthy living environment in the emirate, according to UAE daily Khaleej Times.
Smokers in the UAE will be fined between Dh500 and Dh1,000 if they light up a cigarette in a no-smoking zone once the National Tobacco Control Law comes into effect later this month.
The federal law has been cleared by the Ministry of Justice and is awaiting approval from higher government authorities, a top health official said.
The aim is to ban smoking in all enclosed public areas in the UAE. "We are committed to protect public health and prevent harmful effects of second-hand smoking. Hence, all enclosed public places must be smoke-free," said Dr Wedad Al Maidour, Head of the Anti-Smoking Committee of the Ministry of Health. This means all restaurants, malls, beverage outlets and public transport systems will fall under the law.
o cut the number of people lighting up. (Getty Images)
Smokers in the UAE could see the cost of cigarettes soar under a government initiative to reduce the number of people lighting up, an official has warned.
Wedad Al Maidoor, head of the Ministry of Health Tobacco Control Team, said the price hike has been included in a new smoking law that is expected to come into force across the Emirates at the end of May, UAE daily the National reported on Sunday.
People in the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries are developing lung disease at a younger age and the trend is set to worsen, researchers warned.
The 46-country Greatest International Antibiotic Trial (Giant) studied the prevalence of acute exacerbate chronic bronchitis (AECB), a form of lung disease, and the effectiveness of Bayer Schering Pharma's antibiotic in treating it.
It found a majority of the 4,300 subjects in the Middle East were reporting the disease at 48.5 years old, the youngest compared to other regions.
The average age for lung disease in Latin America was 63.1 years, followed by Europe at 60.5 and Asia-Pacific with 57.1 years. . . .
He warned the outlook in the Middle East was grim: "What is happening here is what has happened in the US and Europe 20 years ago. There are more women smokers [and] it's going to get worse if nothing changes."
The Al Ain Municipality has banned smoking in all enclosed public places, including shopping centres, malls and restaurants.
Awad bin Hasoum Al Darmaky, Director-General of the municipality, said yesterday that the ban would be enforced from April 15.
Al Darmaky said the move is in line with the national campaign against smoking which is the main cause of several diseases.
He highlighted that the Public Health Administration, which is part of the Al Ain Municipality, will organise inspection campaigns to ensure that the decision will be enforced.