Tobacco.org

Gulfnews: Over 10,000 pledge to quit smoking 

Dubai: More than 10,000 people pledged to stop smoking on World No Tobacco Day last Sunday and pledges are still coming in although the day has passed, a senior doctor said.

"It has been a successful initiative by all standards," said Dr Wedad Al Maidour, Head of the National Tobacco Control Committee, Ministry of Health, in a statement.

Besides launching the campaign in labour accommodations, shopping malls, in schools, to housewives and passive smokers, it also went online on Facebook and Twitter, said Dr Prem Jagyasi, managing director of ExHealth, and one of the coordinators of the programme.

He said the response has been fantastic though it is being held for the first time in the UAE and that there are 450 Facebook members promoting the anti-smoking campaign.

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Parliament to ban tobacco use in public 

Parliament has indicated its preparedness to ban tobacco use in public places with a call on the Ministry of Health to speed up the "Tobacco Usage Bill" and lay it before the House of the Legislature for consideration.

This came to light when Members from both sides of Parliament (Majority and Minority) in contributing to a statement laid on the floor by Hon. Major (Rtd) Dr. Mustapha Ahmed, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on health and MP for Ayawaso Central, on "World No Tobacco Day" embraced the idea to ban tobacco usage in public places in Accra yesterday.

Hon. Joseph Yieleh Chireh, Member of Parliament (MP) for Wa West, who doubles as the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development in his contribution to the statement on the need to ban tobacco use in public places, tasked his colleagues to move a little further in terms of legislation to bring the situation under control.

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Nass Tasked On New Tobacco Bill  

JUST as the World Health Organization (WHO) last week urged governments to require that all tobacco packages include pictorial warnings to show the sickness and suffering caused by tobacco use, a call has been made to the members of the National Assembly to urgently pass the new tobacco bill standing before the senate with a view to persuade tobacco companies in Nigeria to start putting pictorial and graphical health warnings on their packages as it is done in other countries of the world.Making this call at a seminar organised by the Nigerian Heart Foundation (NHF) on the 2009 World No Tobacco Day in Lagos, President of NHF, Engr. Oluyomi Adeyemi-Wilson regretted that tobacco companies in Nigeria have not been putting pictorial and graphical health warnings on their packages as it is done in countries like Canada, India, Singapore amongst others.

Stating that the theme of this year's celebration was "Tobacco Health Warnings," he explained that health warnings on tobacco product packaging are critical to any effective tobacco control strategy.

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Around 14,000 die annually from smoking 

Around 14,000 Austrians out of the 2.3 million who smoke die annually from smoking-related diseases, but more and more women, especial- ly the young, have taken up the habit.

SPÖ Health Minister Alois Stöger used the imminence of World Non-Smoking Day this Sunday to appeal "to the public and above all to the gastronomy industry to implement legal measures for the protection of non-smokers and thereby demonstrate their responsibility for people’s health.”

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Over 5 million people die of tobacco yearly -WHO regional director  

The World Health Organisation (WHO) regional director for Africa, Dr Luis Sambou, has stepped up calls for the usage of picture warnings in effort to expose the deadly effect of tobacco, whose consumption rate continues to pose serious treat to the world’s population.

Dr Sambou’s call is contained in a message delivered as part of activities commemorating World No Tobacco Day, on the 31 May, 2009. Describing tobacco as the leading preventable cause of death in the world, he revealed that more than 5 million people die from its effect every year. This, he added, is more than all deaths resulting from HIV/AIDS, Malaria and tuberculosis combined.

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Doc wants tumors shown on cigarette packs  

A Polish cancer specialist suggested Sunday printing images of tumors on cigarette packs could deter people from smoking.

Speaking on No Tobacco Day, Witold Zatonski, an oncologist professor, said it is important to aggressively confront smokers with printed graphic images every time they take a cigarette from the pack.

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Thousands Join World Protest Against Smoking  

Thousands of students and activists on Sunday rallied in Jakarta and other towns across the archipelago to mark World No Tobacco Day in one of the only countries in the region that lacks a ban on cigarette advertisements.

Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo attended an antitobacco rally in the capital.

“This event is in line with the government’s program to reduce air pollution, and the bad habit of smoking contributes largely to the air pollution,” Antara news agency quoted Bowo as saying.

Citing a global survey, Bowo said that 46.7 percent of youths have tried smoking. He added that 9 percent had access to tobacco since the age of 10, and 20 percent of them became active smokers.

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Endangered youth 

The future lies with the youth, as it does with a healthy world, a world free of tobacco and its killer effect.

Yet we have no reason to feel optimistic about tobacco control among teenagers in China. The number of smokers between the age of 13 and 18 is estimated to be at least 15 million. This population accounts for 11.5 percent of the 130 million in this age group, according to a report released by the country's tobacco control office last year.

At least 40 million teenagers have tried cigarettes, the report says. . . .

A survey of 2,000 female high school students in Chongqing municipality in southwestern China has found that 30 percent of them are either smokers or have been smokers. They said that they picked up the habit to emulate some female stars, whose affectations with cigarettes in films or TV soap operas impressed them as being very smart.

It is more important for parents, teachers and adults, particularly smokers, to set a good example for the younger generation, which is in need of role models who do not glamorize smoking.

Pictorial illustrations of the dangers of smoking will be more effective if the warnings are reinforced by role models who can motivate the youth to shun cigarettes.

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• Macao to ban indoor smoking in public places 

Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) will amend its smoking-control law, banning indoor smoking in all public places, said Lei Chin Ion, director of the SAR's Health Bureau, on Sunday.

Aside from the banning of indoor smoking, new measures such as fixed penalty and image of warning posted on cigarette package will be adopted in the new law, said Lei, on the sideline of local "World No Tobacco Day" campaign.

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World No Tobacco Day marked with gigantic cigarette 

Students from Huaibei Health School gesticulate around a 5-meter-long gigantic cigarette, a hand-made model for a smoking-deserting publicity on the World No Tobacco Day which falls on May 31, on their campus in Huaibei, east China's Anhui Province, May 30, 2009. (

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• Myanmar Media Stress Control Of Tobacco Consumption 

Myanmar official media Monday warned of the danger of tobacco, calling on the people to actively participate in the control of tobacco consumption, reports Xinhua news agency quoting a local daily.

According to the New Light of Myanmar, Health Minister Dr Kyww Myint stressed the need to organize the citizens to know the danger of tobacco and to join in tobacco consumption control.

He made these remarks in the wake of the warning by the World Health Organization (WHO) that consumption of tobacco and tobacco products killed over five million people yearly and the use of tobacco remained the main factor of causing diseases in the year 2020.

The WHO has designated the motto "Tobacco Health Warning" for this year with a view to enabling the people to understand the danger of tobacco by printing the health warning on packages of tobacco.

According to the paper, Myanmar marked the World No Tobacco Day- 2009 in Nay Pyi Taw ceremonially on Sunday.

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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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Kick the habit 

IT has been estimated that over one billion people worldwide smoke and one out of every five deaths is caused by tobacco. (See http://health.learninginfo.org/cigarette-smoking-facts.htm.)

Also, according to http://www.who.int/tobacco/ wntd/2009/picture_warnings/en/index.html, tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death.

"More than five million people die from the effects of tobacco every year - more than from HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.

"It is the only legal consumer product that kills, when used exactly as the manufacturer intends. Up to half of all smokers will die from a tobacco-related disease. Second-hand smoke harms everyone who is exposed to it," it adds. . . .

It is statistics such as this that has led to initiatives like the World No Tobacco Day, which is held every year on May 31, to encourage smokers to kick the habit.

According to http://www.euro.who.int/tobaccofree/database/20090209_3, it is estimated that up to a billion people could die from tobacco use during the 21st century.

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• Government acts to put an end to 'dirty tactics' adopted by tobacco companies 

The war against smoking has been further intensified with a ban on tobacco companies and retailers from giving gifts when selling cigarettes and other tobacco products.

The measure takes effect immediately with the amendment of the Control of Tobacco Product Regulations by the Health Ministry.

There is also a proposal to expand non-smoking zones to cover hotel lobbies and air-conditioned workplaces.

Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said retailers were not allowed to sell tobacco products with any other items or sell items and give away tobacco products for free.

The regulations were also amended to ban anyone from offering tobacco products or items promoting a tobacco product as gifts, and as prizes in lotteries, raffles, lucky draws, games or competitions.

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• Simpsons in smoking scandal  

D'oh! The Simpsons could be encouraging another generation of young people to take up smoking.

One of the most popular television shows in history contains a "large number" of tobacco-related scenes, say researchers who watched 400 episodes of the cartoon for science.

"We recorded 795 instances of smoking or references to smoking," says Dr Guy Eslick, a fellow of the International Union Against Cancer and honorary associate of the University of Sydney's School of Public Health.

"The most notable characters who smoked were Marge Simpson's sisters Patty and Selma, Krusty the Clown and Bart's school teacher Mrs Krabappel."

Dr Eslick assessed the first 18 seasons of the program and found the number of smoking references per season ranged from just over 10 to more than 60.

Smoking was presented in a "positive way" in just two percent of these cases, in a negative way in 35 percent of cases and neutrally in 63 percent. . . .

"Even instances of smoking being reflected in a negative way, particularly among young characters, could have an impact on promoting children to smoke cigarettes," Dr Eslick said.

The study concludes: "Viewing The Simpsons characters smoking may prompt children to consider smoking at an early age".

The research is to be published in the Medical Journal of Australia, and today (Sunday) is World No Tobacco Day.

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