Tobacco.org

• Smoking Hits Poor Families Hardest  

More money is spent on cigarettes than on rice in low-income families that include a smoker, a former health minister said on Tuesday.

“A smoker in the family can mean that up to 17 days of the family income is spent on cigarettes,” Farid Anfasa Moeloek, who now heads the National Commission on Tobacco Control, said during a health discussion on smoking.

“This means that only 13 days of their income is left for food and other household necessities,” Farid said. “This increases the likelihood of children suffering learning difficulties and other problems due to malnutrition.”

“Given that 70 percent of the country’s smokers come from low-income families, Indonesia faces losing a generation of children,” Farid said, adding that the data came from research conducted in 2007 by the University of Indonesia’s Demographic Institute.

This, he said, made it important that the government finalize the law on tobacco control, which has been languishing in the House of Representatives since 2004. He said that by adopting the law, Indonesia could better protect its citizens, especially the poor and the young.

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