Tobacco industry fights laws on control

Tuesday, July 13, 2010 (Graphic Business Page 11)

Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah

WITH series of studies to indicate that second hand smoking is more dangerous than smoking directly, health professionals in many countries, including some developing countries have advocated the ban of smoking in public places, if not banning the product completely.
Among those developing countries is Ghana which since 2003, has gone through the act of drafting a Tobacco Control Bill. The bill, which within the last few weeks has been sent to Cabinet for approval and subsequently to Parliament, seems to have a long way to go.
When it is passed into law, the Tobacco Control Bill will, among other things, prohibit a person from smoking in public and, therefore, protect non-smokers from the harmful effects of tobacco.
The bill provides in part that, “A person shall not smoke tobacco or tobacco products or hold a lighted tobacco in enclosed or indoor area of a work place, or any other public place, a workplace whether privately or publicly owned”.
In addition, many of the things which were currently being done to subtly promote the use of tobacco products would be prohibited under the law.
Those prohibitions would be captured under, “advertising in relation to tobacco and tobacco products” . It went further to include activities such as indirect tobacco advertising, organisation, service, activity or event use of tobacco trademarks, logos, brand names as well as tobacco or tobacco products or tobacco related products on bill boards, mural, or transport stations, airports and sea ports would be prohibited.
On tobacco sponsorship, the bill indicated that “a person shall not initiate or engage in any form of tobacco sponsorship; organise or promote an activity that is to take place in the country; make financial contribution to an organised activity in the country, make financial contribution to a person in respect of the organisation or promotion as well as the participation by that person in an organised activity”.
These provisions and others in the bill which are supposed to control the use of cigarette and other tobacco products, are what some people suspect are forcing those in tobacco industry to fight against the passage of the bill.
At a recent seminar for selected health reporters in Accra, some of the participating journalists, who said they had followed issues of the draft bill since the first draft in 2003, indicated that it was high time it was passed for the benefit of non-smokers in the society.
They also spent time to discuss the possibility of unseen hands somewhere which have over the years fought hard to prevent such a legislation to see the light of day. These, according to the participants were the giants in the tobacco industry who used all methods to entice people, especially the youth to patronise tobacco products.
Some of the methods they allegedly use are advertisement, sponsorship, scholarships and at times the offer of free products to innocent youth who later in life become addicted to the product.
After blaming the giants in the tobacco industry who used all manner of marketing strategies to continue to operate, there was the issue of some governments who because of the amount of revenue they receive from tobacco importation and sale, decide to ignore the number of their citizens who die because of tobacco.
There was a time that Ghana used to witness the organisation of "Embassy Double Do" beauty pageants with the Embassy brand.
Years past there existed in this county the British American Tobacco (BAT) which did all it could to encourage Ghanaian farmers so much that, they readily produced for their factories. Though many of those farmers did not smoke nor used any tobacco products, they suffered from what was called the green disease just because they handled the tobacco leaves.
The most significant aspect of the issue is the case of those who do not smoke tobacco but inhale hundreds of dangerous substances from others who smoke, those referred to as passive or second hand smokers.

Banning smoking
Six years after ratifying the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), Ghana is yet to implement one of the most important provisions in the Convention - that is the ban of smoking in public places.
The conention on tobacco is the first treaty negotiated under the auspices of the WHO. The convention is an evidence-based treaty that reaffirms the right of the all people to the highest standard of health and was developed in response to the globalisation of the tobacco epidemic.
The spread of the tobacco epidemic is facilitated through a variety of complex factors with cross-border effects, including trade liberalisation and direct foreign investment.
Other factors such as global marketing, trans-national tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, and the international movement of contraband and counterfeit cigarette have also contributed to the explosive increase in tobacco use.
Ghana’s failure to do what is required of it under the WHO Convention is seen in its non-compliance of the provisions in Article 8 with the heading: “Protection from exposure to tobacco smoke”.
Section 1 of the article provides that: “Parties recognise that scientific evidence has unequivocally established that exposure to tobacco smoke cause death, disease and disability”.
There is, therefore, the need for Ghana as a matter of urgency, to recognise the need to promulgate the law includes the ban of smoking in public place to save the large number of Ghanains who face the risk of suffering unduly because others have opted to smoke no matter the dangers involved.