Tobacco.org

• Scribe Jailed 10 Months 

The Arua-based Red Pepper reporter was on Thursday sentenced to a 10-month imprisonment for receiving a bribe.

Ronald Afeku pleaded guilty of taking sh1m from the British American Tobacco Uganda (BATU) manager for not running a story against the company last Thursday.

"You have acted against the ethics of journalism, a noble profession that informs, educates the masses. "You are sentenced to ten months imprisonment," the Arua Grade II magistrate, Marchelo Alioniin, read the judgement before a fully packed courtroom with the convict's relatives and journalists.

Alioniin urged journalists to clear their image from criminal acts if they wanted to get public confidence. . . .

On August 6, Afeku was arrested by plain clothed policemen from BATU offices after receiving a bribe to kill a story on a motor accident involving the tobacco firm, which claimed over 10 people and left many others injured.

The court heard that Afeku had asked for sh2m and the balance would be paid later after handing over the story to the manager

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• OGUZU: Tobacco farming killing food production in West Nile 

During the recent Jinja Agricultural Trade Show, I went to the World Food Programme (WFP) stall to find out if our small farmer groups in West Nile can benefit from P4P initiative supported by Bill Gates and Melinda, unaware of the fact that the region is not a beneficiary because of her inability to produce, even feed her own people.

While Food and Agriculture Organisation’s latest estimates put the number of chronically hungry people at 1.02b, up from 915m in 2008, Uganda’s West Nile region isn’t exempt from these global figures save for reasons that force people to go hungry. In an earlier article, I stressed the need for tobacco firms to be socially responsible, well aware of colossal cost we could one day pay for sticking to this cash crop.

Tobacco growing has partly contributed to the famine in West Nile. First and fore most, tobacco growing has led to destruction of forests and fruit trees to the point that the region now faces drought, reduced honey production and general environmental degradation-- a typical example of collapse Jared Diamond talked about in his book ‘Collapse: how Societies choose to Succeed and Fail’ in which he referred to Haitain society that ended up in cannibalism after destroying the vegetation on which their survival depended.

Because tobacco production also requires dedicating labour, land and other resources at the expense of growing subsistence crops, the potential for hunger and starvation is imminent.

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• Farmers resist drive to stop tobacco growing 

As the harvesting season begins, West Nile farmers have positioned themselves to reap big from a cash crop that has come under severe criticism from political and civil leaders in the district.

Some farmers in Arua and Maracha-Terego districts rejected calls from local leaders to stop growing tobacco because the latter believes the crop is a major cause of poverty, particularly during periods of famine.

The BATU Manager in Arua, Mr Peter Mukisa told Business Power, last week, that the local incomes this season have been boosted by the high quality tobacco farmers are harvesting. Tobacco is the main cash crop in Arua and Maracha-Terego districts. Mr Mukisa said he was not sure of the tonnes the company expects to get since the season has just started but he said; “we want to ensure that farmers get high quality seeds to earn more income”. For instance, a high quality grade of tobacco is bought at Shs4,150 while the lowest grade fetches Shs1,500.

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• MARLONE: How Tobacco Firms Woo Smokers  

The tobacco industry has cleverly gone beyond a merely defensive cam-Marlboro Man: From the Wild campaign to one which is positive and West to the Far East pro-cigarettes.

Other industry tactics include creating doubt without actually denying medical evidence linking smoking and cancer, philanthropy to buy friends and social respectability, and using trade agreements, bribery and lobbying to force entry into closed markets.

The tobacco industry has also used its slick promotional skills to perfect a "customised" approach to marketing products and brands by identifying and "hunting" segments of population, including the women, teens and children of the developing world.

Unfortunately, many developing countries provide a conducive atmosphere for tobacco companies to test their latest insidious tactics to get around strict legislation in developed countries. . . .

In Uganda, while still waiting for the National Environment Management Authority and the Police to enforce the Control of Smoking in Public Places legislation enacted in 2004, the vulnerable tobacco consumer needs to have an overview of the tobacco industry tactics and their corresponding goals -

- Intelligence Gathering - Monitor opponents and social trends to anticipate future challenges

- Public Relations - Mold public opinion using the media to promote pro-industry positions

- Political Funding - Use donations to win votes and legislative favours from politicians

- Lobbying - Cut deals and influence political process

- Consultancy Programmes - Produce "independent" experts critical of tobacco control measures

- Smokers' Rights Groups - Create impressions of spontaneous, grassroots public support

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• Tobacco - Despite the Risks, Smoking Thrives  

YESTERDAY, Uganda joined the rest of the world to mark the World No Tobacco Day. Anti-cigarette activists are vowing to step up the campaign to compel the Government to tighten its grip on smokers who do not care about other people's health.

According to the Uganda Heart Institute, tobacco is the leading cause of preventable cancer deaths in the world, accounting for over 5.2 million deaths annually.

It is projected that the death toll of tobacco-related diseases will rise to 10 million per year, with 70% occurring in developing countries.

Owing to such health risks, in 2004 the Government passed a law barring smoking in public places.

It is considered a violation of non-smokers' rights to life and to a clean and healthy environment.

The then water, lands and environment minister, Kahinda Otafiire, ordered the ban to take immediate effect. . . .

However, despite the heath risks it poses, smoking has continued to thrive even in public places, in total disregard of the law.

And the bodies that should have implemented the legislation have not intervened much.

As a result, mob justice has increased due to increased smoking in public places, as non-smokers struggle to guard themselves from the effects of passive smoking. . . .

Karugaba blames the environmental watchdog, National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) for failing to crack down on smokers.

The Police in Tororo last year arrested one Julius Opondo over allegedly killing a colleague, Desiderio Okecho, by twisting his neck for lighting a cigarette in Wawulere Market.

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• Control tobacco growing, says minister 

THE agriculture state minister, Aggrey Bagiire, has directed authorities in West Nile districts to enact bylaws to regulate the cultivation of tobacco to save the region from environmental degradation.

The directive follows a recent meeting the minister held with Koboko district leaders in Koboko town. Bagiire, who had travelled by road, expressed shock at the lack of forest cover in the area.

"These farmers have been here for over 40 years but what you see from Arua to Koboko is bad." "Other than the small trading centres, there are countable iron sheet-roofed houses," Bagiire said.

He said with the bylaw, tobacco farmers would also be required to grow food.

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• EDITORIAL: Enact Law On Tobacco As Soon As Possible 

LUNG cancer in Uganda has increased ten-fold, according to the latest report from the Uganda Cancer Institute, Mulago. There are now 30 to 40 patients admitted at the institute annually. . . .

It is a whiff of fresh air that the Government is preparing a tougher law to control tobacco use. No stone must be left unturned and the Tobacco Bill 2009 must be tabled as soon as possible and translated into law as a matter of urgency to save smokers and non-smokers alike from the scourge of a self-imposed and reckless lifestyle which devastates both our health and economy.

The profits from the tobacco industry make no sense if they have to be ploughed back to treat tobacco-related diseases!

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• Tough Anti-Tobacco Law in Offing 

THE Government is preparing a tougher law to control tobacco use.

The law, which is to be tabled in Parliament, requires dealers in tobacco products to have licences.

It will also halt all advertising of tobacco in the media, and its sale in small quantities.

The regulation will also stop the sale and smoking of tobacco in public places.

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• Tobacco Farmers Deplete Trees 

THE cutting of trees for tobacco-curing, and charcoal-burning have contributed to the depletion of trees in West Nile, the Arua district forest officer, Edison Adiribo, has said.

He said tobacco, the region's major cash crop, requires large quantities of wood fuel to cure, and has forced farmers to indiscriminately cut down trees.

Adiribo was speaking at the launch of an agro-forestry project in Arua town on Saturday.

The project is a partnership between the Nile Trans-boundary Environmental Action Project under the Nile Basin Initiative and Arua Rural Community Development.

It promotes afforestation and cultivation of red bird chili as an alternative income source for tobacco farmers in Arua and Maracha/Terego districts.

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• Stronger warning on fags 

Cigarette manufactures in Uganda, will alter the mild health warning on packs, to clearly tell smokers of the danger of contracting incurable diseases through consuming tobacco products.

The Uganda National Bureau of Standards has directed cigarette makers to display in their packaging that smokers face certain death by consuming their product.

The warning that manufacturers are to imprint on packets within the next six months will read, Cigarette smoking causes lung cancer, heart diseases and death” as opposed to the current warning, Cigarette smoking can be harmful to your health. Dr Terry Kahuma, the executive director of UNBS in a letter to the ministers of Health and Trade, said the alert would be carried in English and Kiswahili.

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• Ugandan killed for smoking in bar 

Ugandan officials have expressed shock after a mob killed a man who refused to stop smoking in a public bar.

Customers at the village bar in eastern Uganda attacked the man after he repeatedly refused to respect a smoking ban, according to witnesses.

It is the first known incident of its kind since Uganda introduced a public smoking ban four years ago.

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• Police, Nema rift on smoking ban 

Confusion as to who should enforce the law that bans smoking in public places is making the regulation inactive, three years after it came into force.

The Police and the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) are accusing each other of failing the implementation. Following a renewed call by the Environmental Action Network (Tean), an NGO, asking Nema to enforce the ban, Daily Monitor on Tuesday sounded out both institutions.

The Nema Public Relations Officer, Naomi Karekaho, said the police were in a better position to explain the inactiveness of the ban. “Our work is to put in place regulations and that is what we did regarding the ban on public smoking. The public relations department of the police should explain,” said Ms Karekaho.

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• Batu loses Shs4 billion case to tobacco growers 

Over 3,000 tobacco farmers from mid western Uganda have won a landmark case in which they demanded over Shs3.8 billion from BAT Uganda Limited (Batu) as compensation for tobacco grown in 2004 which the latter refused to buy.

Commercial Court Judge, Egonda Ntende in his judgment delivered last week, agreed with the arguments of the farmers that Batu was liable to compensate the complainants for the tobacco they grew on contract.

“I am satisfied that the farmers grew the tobacco in accordance with their contract and the law and delivered the same to Batu,” Justice Ntende’s judgement reads in part.

“But the tobacco company, for reasons that have not been explained in this case, declined to complete the process

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• OGUZU: Tobacco firms should be socially responsible 

I wish to draw attention to the damage tobacco growing has caused to the environment in West Nile, the North, Bunyoro and south-western Uganda.

Several acres of woodland have been felled for flue-cured tobacco production in Maracha, Arua, Koboko, Yumbe, Hoima, and Masindi districts. Forests that would otherwise have filtered carbon emissions and protected arable land from erosion are removed, and temperatures in the tobacco-growing districts are rising.

Firms like British American Tobacco, Leaf Tobacco and Commodity, as well as Continental, in their fallacy, give eucalyptus seedlings to farmers supposedly to replace chopped forests without considering the long maturity period and its impact on the water table.

The tobacco firms do not plough back their high profits yet they hype their cosmetic social responsibility programmes. . . .

The negative impact of tobacco growing includes the accumulation of chemical compounds in soils and declining fertility. Tobacco production negatively affects people's health. The effects include nicotine poisoning, pesticide exposure, respiratory effects, musculoskeletal and other injuries.

The Government should assist tobacco growers in West Nile to produce alternative crops that thrive well there without fertilisers or pesticides. The sh48b the Government gets in tax revenues from tobacco exports and products should not shroud the negative effects on tobacco on the population.

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• Girls taking to smoking as much as boys- study 

Uganda will this Saturday mark the World No Tobacco Day with a theme, “Tobacco Free Youth”. It calls upon all countries to ban all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship which attracts youth to smoking.

“Tobacco companies have long targeted the youth as ‘replacement smokers’ to take the place of those who quit or die. The industry knows that addicting youth is the only hope for the future,” reads the WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic, 2008.

The World Health Organisation estimates that at least 1.8 billion young people between the age of 10-24 smoke cigarettes and more than 85 percent are found in developing countries like Uganda. . . .

According to the just released 2007 Uganda Global Youth Tobacco Survey Report in which more than 4,000 students were interviewed, 15 percent said they had ever smoked cigarettes, 16 percent admitted using tobacco at the moment while 5.5 per cent were smoking cigarettes.

These were adolescent students aged between 13 and 15 years in Senior One, Two and Three from 51 different schools across the country.

According to the study report, girls are taking up smoking as much as the boys are. In Kampala alone, while 16 percent of the boys admitted to smoking, 14 percent of the girls also said they were smoking.

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