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• 'Jordan committed to implementation of tobacco control treaty' 

Jordan is committed to the implementation of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC), Minister of Health Nayef Fayez said on Tuesday, noting that it was the second country in the region to endorse it.

The Ministry of Health has formed a committee to draw up a plan to implement articles 9 and 10 of the convention, which entered into force in 2005, he added.

"We are studying the possibility of enlarging the graphic warning printed on tobacco packets from 30 per cent to 50 per cent of the pack's total size," Fayez said at a meeting of 20 FCTC state parties to discuss the implementation of articles 9 and 10 yesterday.

He added that the ministry is also studying printing other graphics related to the impact of smoking on health.

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• WHO's Western Pacific region agrees tobacco-control plan 

Member states of WHO's Western Pacific region have unanimously agreed on a new action plan to tackle the huge burden of tobacco-related illness in the region. Margaret Harris Cheng reports.

To the surprise and delight of tobacco-control campaigners, a plan to operationalise the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) was passed with barely a murmur of dissent at the WHO's Western Pacific regional meeting held in Hong Kong last month.

Although representatives of three of the world's biggest tobacco producers—China, the USA, and Japan—were present when the plan came up for discussion, only China voiced any misgivings about the plan. “The action plan should offer guidance—it should not be a mandatory requirement for member states”, China's representative told the meeting.

The ease with which the plan was accepted was a surprise because it is considered a radical departure from its predecessors (this is the fifth such plan for the WHO's Western Pacific region). For the first time, the plan sets out objectives for member states and a timeframe (2010—14) in which those objectives should ideally be reached. All member states are expected to attend a progress review in 2012, and be ready and willing to explain what stage they are at with tobacco control and why they have, or have not, achieved their objectives.

It was this, the setting of very specific objectives, that made China somewhat uncomfortable.

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Controversy over law on tobacco control 

The issue of tobacco control has been discussed by the Georgian Parliament and Government since the end of 2005, when Parliament ratified the concept of introducing tobacco control systems in Georgia in line with World Health Organisation recommendations. By taking on this commitment the country also took on the responsibility to forbid the smoking of tobacco in public buildings and on public transport, forbidding tobacco advertising and sponsorship and other obligations. In December 2008 the law on tobacco control was indeed amended. Smoking was forbidden in public places, educational and medical institutions and on public transport and in bars and restaurants were forced to set aside separate areas for smokers and non-smokers.

The Georgian Government initially decided that these amendments would be introduced only in 2012. Although they did in fact come into force in September 2009, the Government still wants the delay them, opposes introducing penalties for law violations and so on.

The NGO Tobacco Control Alliance and its Chairman Giorgi Bakhturidze think that some government members are lobbying for tobacco interests and that's why they are demanding the delays in implementing the amendments.

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GUNASEGARAM: 10 ways to snuff out smoking 

EVERYBODY, including tobacco companies, is now agreed that smoking is detrimental to good health. You only have to look at the cigarette packets to know this.

But nicotine is a powerful addictive drug. If you get hooked, it is very tough to give it up.

The best cure is prevention -- stop people from taking up the smoking habit in the first place. That means the target must be the young -- discourage them by all means fair from picking up the habit in the first place. . . .

We need guts and gumption to deal with this. Here are 10 ways to show we have it.

1. Increase cigarette prices. . . .

10. Adhere to international codes, rules and regulations. The world at large has recognised the dangers of smoking. Most countries in the world are signatories to the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control which sets out measures that can be taken to discourage smoking.

By adhering to provisions of the code, Malaysia can move forward in the fight against smoking, which statistics show is becoming an increasingly serious problem here.

A phased series of actions based on these lines will go a long way towards checking smoking among our children and discouraging smokers from, well, smoking, thereby reducing the incidence of smoking overall.

It is important not to pull punches because of the cost it might inflict on the tobacco industry. The economic damage that smoking causes through health and productivity costs is far more than the benefits the industry contributes.

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WHO eyes 'graphic warning' as effective deterrent to smoking  

Dr. Florante E. Trinidad, Technical Officer, Tobacco Free Initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO) sees picture-based warnings as effective deterrent against tobacco smoking as compared to text warnings only.

Speaking on the second day of the 3rd Quarter 2009 Media Forum on Tobaco Control Program held recently at the Davao Regency Resort and Hotel Davao City, Dr. Trinidad pointed out during his presentation that picture-based health warnings would increase its effectiveness, make the message more noticeable and salient and help counter the branding and imagery of the package. According to him, it also engages the audience on an emotional level and communicates information to illiterate or less literate populations. . . .

Among the world's youths, according to Trinidad, Philippines counts among the heaviest tobacco users with Filipino girls occupying 2nd place and Filipino boys occupied the 4rth slot in 2003. One in every five students, aged 13-15 currently smoke.

It is also equally alarming, as Trinidad pointed out, that hundreds of thousands of people who have never smoked die each year from illness related to inhalation of other people's tobacco smoke.

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• VIETNAM: Anti-Smoking Drive Fails to Curb Male Tobacco Abuse 

In Vietnamese tobacco is called 'thouc la', which means 'medicinal leaves'. Given a reported 40,000 die each year from lung cancer, it is not the most apposite name. . . .

Huong typifies the male-smoking population of Vietnam, considered one of the biggest in the world: 56 percent of the country's estimated 86 million population. The figure could be higher, said health officials who spoke with IPS. China, Malaysia and Laos all record higher figures, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

"It's a huge burden to the health system," Dr Nguyen Tuan Lam of the Tobacco Free Initiative of WHO told IPS in a telephone interview. He believes the official number of lung cancer deaths is massively underreported, saying it could be closer to 70,000. Compare this figure with the incidence of traffic accidents, often called a "hidden epidemic" in the motorcycle-riding South-east Asian country, which accounted for a comparatively lower 12,000 deaths in 2008.

Compared to men, there are extremely few female smokers in Vietnam. In fact, the communist nation has one of the lowest female smoking rates in the world at 2.1 percent of the population.

"The attitude here is that only naughty girls smoke. It's not ladylike and it's not nice," said Lam.

Since Vietnam ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in December 2004, it has banned all forms of advertising, increased taxes on cigarettes and last year added larger warning labels to packaging.

In late August government announced that starting Jan. 1, 2010, smoking would be prohibited in public places

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Plan aims to cut smoking rate 10% 

As part of a tobacco free initiative agreed last week by countries in the Western Pacific region, the Korean government has set a target of reducing the nation's smoking rate by 10 percent over the coming five years, health officials said yesterday. The World Health Organization has helped its member states fighting against the smoking issue by offering five-year plans since 1990. The pact signed last Wednesday is the latest, updated version of a package of six policies to reduce the demand for and consumption of tobacco products.

The package includes: monitor tobacco use and prevention policies; protect people from tobacco smoke; offer help to quit tobacco use; warn about the dangers of tobacco; enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, and raise taxes on tobacco.

Under the Regional Action Plan enforced from next year through 2014, the nation's current tobacco use among adults and youths is expected to be reduced by 10 percent from the most recent baseline. More than 60 percent of taxes will be imposed on tobacco, as well.

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• Northern tourist city to ban smoking 

Northern tourist town Ha Long City will tell its smokers to butt out, particularly in public areas. Ha Long will become the country’s second smoke-free city thanks to a project launched on September 26 by U.S.-based Campaign for Tobacco - Free Kids in the city.

Ha Long, in northern Quang Ninh Province, is home to UNESCO-listed Ha Long Bay, one of the major tourist destinations in northern Vietnam.

The US$284,500 project is being run by the U.S. organization and the Vietnam Union of Sciences and Technology Associations

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Plan aims to cut smoking rate 10% 

As part of an anti-tobacco initiative agreed to last week by countries in the Western Pacific region, the Korean government has set a target of reducing the nation's smoking rate by 10 percent over the coming five years. Tobacco products will see steep tax increases - up to 60 percent - as this has been proven to be one of the most effective ways to combat smoking.

The World Health Organization has helped member states fighting against the smoking issue by suggesting five-year plans.

The pact signed last Wednesday contains the updated version of a 2008 package of policies to reduce the demand for and consumption of tobacco products.

The package includes: monitor tobacco use and prevention policies; protect people from tobacco smoke; offer help to quit smoking; warn about the dangers of tobacco; enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, and raise taxes on tobacco.

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WHO denounces tobacco industry  

The World Health Organization (WHO has denounced the tobacco industry's attempts to undermine global efforts to reduce smoking.

WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific Dr Shin Young-soo, stresses that "governments must recognize that there is a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between the tobacco industry's interests and public health policy interest.

To strengthen the fight against smoking, WHO's governing body in the Region has endorsed the Regional Action Plan (2010-2014) for the Tobacco Free Initiative.

The Plan aims to strengthen government tobacco control programmes as well as protect public policy processes from interference from the tobacco industry. . . .

One third of the world's smokers reside in the Western Pacific Region, which has the greatest number of smokers, among the highest rates of male smoking prevalence, and the fastest increase of tobacco use uptake by women and young people compared to the other five WHO regions.

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• EDITORIAL: Unhealthy business 

Once again the profit motive may trump the government in its efforts to improve the general health of the nation. The government had announced the introduction of pictorial health warnings on cigarette packs and had given the industry a six-month deadline to print them as from January 1st 2010; thus joining 30 other countries having similar warnings. . . .

It is reported that a series of meetings between industry representatives and senior officials of the health department has been held in an effort to slow down the implementation of the requirement for pictorial warnings on packets. . . .

We are a desperately unhealthy nation with a poor spread of primary healthcare services; and an even poorer spread of specialist oncology units. The causal linkage between smoking, cancers, and respiratory illness is well known. Our implementation of anti-smoking legislation has been patchy at best and as the tobacco producers are on the retreat in the developed world; they are increasingly focused on the undeveloped and developing world to extend their market footprint. We hope that the government will hold the line and not cave in to assorted pressures. This is sensible governance and clearly to the ultimate benefit of the entire population. Smoking kills - pictorial warnings on packets may lead to fewer of us dying of tobacco-related disease; and we have scant sympathy for the tobacco lobby.

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Tobacco lobby may delay pictorial warnings on cigarette packs  

The country's tobacco lobby may force the government to delay its decision over cigarette packs carrying pictorial health warnings, sources in the Health Ministry said on Sunday.

On World No Tobacco Day on May 31, the government had announced the introduction of pictorial health warnings on cigarette packs and had given the industry a six-month deadline to print them from January 1, 2010. However, soon after the announcement, the tobacco industry held a number of meetings with senior Health Ministry officials to attempt to reverse or delay the implementation of pictorial warnings. The ministry had started work on legislation for introduction of warnings on cigarette packs in consultation with the Ministry of Law, but the tobacco lobby is busy trying to delay the process.

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'India to bring down tobacco consumption' 

Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Dinesh Trivedi has said that India is committed to bring down tobacco production as per the provisions of Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Speaking at the inaugural session of First meeting of the Working Group under Articles 17-18 of WHO Frame Work Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), Trivedi said apart from focusing on health dimensions of the tobacco consumption, there is a need for concentrating on alternative livelihood for the millions of farmers and cottage industry workers who are engaged in tobacco related activities.

' Tobacco lobby has used these two stake holders to stall many serious steps to curb the tobacco menace in the country,' Trivedi said.

Trivedi outlined various initiatives of the Government of India to control tobacco consumption which kills about 9 lakh people every year in the country.

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• Bill bans public smoking in Namibia 

THE Tobacco Products Control Bill tabled by Health Minister Richard Kamwi in Parliament bans "the smoking of tobacco in a public place, any outdoor public place or any area within a certain distance of a window, ventilation inlet, door or entrance".

This means that a hotel, restaurant or coffee shop would also fall under the definition of "pubic place", although the Bill does not mention these details. As usual, regulations will be drawn up once the Bill is passed, and then public spaces will be more clearly defined. Introducing the Bill yesterday afternoon, Minister Kamwi told the House that a 2004 study undertaken in Namibia, showed that 17 per cent of school children between the ages of 10 and 12 had admitted they had a smoking experience.

"This harmful behaviour is practiced by far too many children too early in their lives and damages to their health will only become evident many years after they started smoking." Municipalities will have to appoint inspectors to monitor and enforce compliance with the law once it comes into force.

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• Cigarette Ads Violate Human Rights: YLKI 

The Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) stated that the broadcast of cigarette advertisements violates human rights due to the fact that Cigarette ads have been manipulative.

"Cigarette ads have empirically offended human rights because they don't contain clear and transparent information," YLKI official Tulus Abadi said at a discussion in Jakarta on Monday, September 14.

He also said cigarette ads in various media feature manipulative sides. The information, he continued, did not include the danger of smoking. "I'm not surprised if the Constitutional Court decided to reject the suit. It's because the information wasn't clear," Abadi said.

According to him, YLKI has set out various attempts to block the destructive effects of cigarettes over the smokers. The foundation has also filed a lawsuit against the House of Representatives (DPR) and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to Central Jakarta District Court for not ratifying the world's agreement on the dangers of smoking.

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