''Tobacco Kills 5.4m People Globally Every Year''

The menace of tobacco use across the world came to the fore Tuesday as delegates to the 15th World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCTOH) were told that tobacco-related diseases kill about 5.4m people annually.

Speaking to journalists shortly before the opening of the conference, Mr. Matt Myers of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said a substantial part of this number were second-hand smokers, among them children.

He urged governments around the world to implement the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Article 5.3 whose guidelines were approved in 2008 to protect their people from the tobacco multinationals.

The Article provides for the protection of public health policies with respect to tobacco control from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry.

Myers maintained that there was a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between the tobacco industry’s interests and public health policy interests.

Speaking at the opening ceremony in the presence of some of the world’s leaders, Health Minister of Singapore, Gan Kim Yong, said the meeting was a major milestone in the fight against smoking in the country.

Yong said that Singapore, as a signatory to the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, was keen to establish, engage and support local, regional and international partnerships for tobacco control.

“The tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced. It kills nearly six million people a year. This is why tobacco control is one of the top priorities in Singapore's public health efforts. We believe the linkages formed through this important platform of WCTOH 2012 will enable diverse groups to come together to take a collective stand against tobacco and save more lives,” he said.

Present at the opening ceremony were Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General, World Health Organisation; Dr Surin Pitsuwan, Secretary-General, Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Health Ministers and national representatives from ASEAN, Australia, Fiji, Norway, Russia, Turkey and the USA; as well as renowned technical experts Prof Judith Mackay, Prof Sir Richard Peto and Dr. Prakash C Gupta.

This will be the first time the Conference is hosted in Southeast Asia, and about 2,600 international delegates and policy-makers from 100 countries are participating.

“Singapore is the first in the world to impose duty-paid marking on cigarettes to counter-illicit trade, the first in Asia to make graphic health warnings mandatory and also a global forerunner in having a comprehensive smoke-free ban,” said Mr. Ang Hak Seng, Chief Executive Officer, Singapore’s Health Promotion Board (HPB).

Organisers said this year’s conference theme, “Towards a Tobacco-Free World: Planning Globally, Acting Locally'', is strategically focused on planning and coordination of multi-sectoral tobacco control efforts at the international level, while customising local policies and programmes to suit the unique requirements of individual countries.

In a keynote address, Dr Chan said the tobacco industry is engaged in an all- out effort to subvert tobacco control laws: “Tactics aimed at undermining anti-tobacco campaigns, and subverting the WHO FCTC were no longer covert or cloaked by an image of corporate social responsibility.

They are out in the open and they are extremely aggressive. We can, and must, stop this industry’s massive contribution to sickness and death.”

Also speaking at a workshop for journalists, Mr. Bode Oluwafemi of the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), said as the tobacco control measures gathers momentum, the industry has escalated efforts at undermining control legislations.

Oluwafemi said that since the west had imposed heavy taxes on tobacco aimed at reducing consumption, the tobacco multinationals have turned their searchlight on African countries with aggressive marketing to recruit smokers.

He urged African countries especially, Nigeria, not to sign off the future of their youths by refusing to pass tobacco control legislations that would have substantially reduced the number of people likely to pick the habit.

He said the danger of tobacco is that passive smokers (second-hand) are as affected by the dangers of the epidemic as well as the smokers themselves.

WCTOH is one of the world's most prestigious platforms on tobacco control, where the best and most dedicated experts and leaders congregate for debate, exchange of perspectives and overall pursuit of greater solidarity against tobacco use.

The overall objectives of WCTOH according to the organisers are to: provide a platform to build countries’ capacity in tobacco control through the sharing of best practices, experiences, knowledge and research; Strengthen the next generation of tobacco control advocates through a youth pre-conference and the participation of youth delegates at the main conference and renew the commitment to fight the global tobacco epidemic through the conference declaration.

Group says inclusion of British/American tobacco in export scheme is fraudulent

• "We believe BATN was favoured unduly and Nigerians now demand to know the truth.”

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has asked the Senate to extend the probe of utilization of Export Expansion Grant (EEG) Scheme in the agriculture sector to the British American Tobacco Nigeria (BATN).

In a statement issued in Lagos, ERA/FoEN said the demand for an extension of the investigations to BATN is based on a conviction that the criteria for the inclusion of BATN in the EEG scheme was fraudulent and must be immediately reviewed to save the nation from subsidizing the production and marketing of killer products.

The EEG is a cash inducement designed to assist Nigerian firms expand the volume and value of their exports, diversify export markets and become more competitive in the international market.

"We believe BATN was favoured unduly and Nigerians now demand to know the truth,” said Akinbode Oluwafemi, ERA/FoEN Director, Corporate Accountability & Administration.

“If the expansion grant was conceived as an incentive to assist Nigerian firms expand the volume and value of their exports, then the summoned ministers must explain to the Senate and Nigerians how a company whose products opened the pathway for the harvest of deaths the nation is reaping today was certified worthy of the grants in the first place,” Mr. Oluwafemi added.

The Senate Committee on Investments, last Thursday, invited Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Finance Minister, and her Trade and Investments counterpart, Olusegun Aganga over EEG grants disbursed in the agricultural sector. 

Nenadi Usman, the Chairman of the committee, issued the summons at an interactive session with members of the National Cotton Association of Nigeria who had petitioned the committee over several charges they were allegedly made to pay in respect to export of their commodities by the Nigeria Customs Service.

“While we commend the Senate for this move, we are demanding that the EEG investigations be far-reaching enough to torchlight the parameters for inclusion of BATN in the scheme because we are convinced that a company that manufactures products that kills its consumers does not qualify to be listed as a beneficiary of the scheme," noted Mr. Oluwafemi. 

While calling on the present administration to demonstrate commitment to the "wellness of Nigerians" by signing the National Tobacco Control Bill into law; the group further asked the government to withdraw the "generous" tax holidays and other incentives offered BATN.

“We have said it time and again that through this scheme the Nigerian people continue to subsidize BATN even at the cost of their health and lives. The inclusion of the company in the scheme is totally unacceptable and must be reviewed immediately,” Mr. Oluwafemi said.

“Our position remains clear and unchanged: BATN should be removed from the list of companies benefiting from EEG and made to forfeit previous funding under the scheme,” he added.

Ben Ezeamalu 

World conference on tobacco holds in Singapore

The 15th World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCTOH) will hold in Singapore next week.

The conference, which will start on Monday, will witness events such as a workshop for reporters from over 20 countries of the world.

The conference billed for the Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre will also witness the presentation of the  

 Distinguished 2012 Luther L. Terry Awards to nine tobacco control experts from Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, South Africa, and the United Kingdom  for exemplary leadership.

A statement by the American Cancer Society (ACS)  said: “The awards recognise outstanding global achievement in the field of tobacco control in six categories: outstanding individual leadership, outstanding organisation, outstanding research contribution, exemplary leadership by a government ministry, distinguished career, and outstanding community service.

“Australia’s Professor Michael Daube, will receive the Distinguished Career award; the Department of Health and Ageing of the Government of Australia will receive the award for Exemplary Leadership by a Government Ministry; Martin Raw, Ph.D., from the United Kingdom/Brazil and Yussuf Saloojee, Ph.D., from South Africa will receive awards for Outstanding Individual Leadership; the United Kingdom’s Action on Smoking and Health will receive the Outstanding Organization award; Canada’s Prabhat Jha, M.D., D.Phil., and Melanie Wakefield, Ph.D., of Australia will receive awards for Outstanding Research Contribution; and Mira Aghi, Ph.D., from India and Stan Shatenstein from Canada will receive awards for Outstanding Community Service.”

 ACS’s Chief Executive Officer John  Seffrin said: “We are pleased to recognise these exemplary individuals who carry on the noble and incredibly important work of ending the deadly spread of tobacco around the globe.

 “The existence of a global tobacco treaty – the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control–covering 90 percent of the world’s population would have been unthinkable in 1964, and would have not become reality had it not been for the outstanding leadership of exceptional individuals and organisations like those receiving this distinguished award.”

The awards are named for the late United States Surgeon General . He identified tobacco use as a cause of lung cancer and other illnesses.

Olukorede Yishau

Environmental activists task Jonathan, lawmakers on anti-tobacco law

ENVIRONMENTAL activists on Tuesday expressed concern over the alleged refusal of President Goodluck Jonathan to assent “people friendly” bills into law.
The activists under the aegis of Environmental Rights Action/ Friend of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) observed that only the 2012 budget and Freedom of Information (FoI) bill had so far been assented into law by President Jonathan, out of several that were passed at the end of the sixth Senate.
Most worrisome according to the group is the delay of the National Tobacco Control Bill (NTCB), which is to domesticate the provisions of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and reduce tobacco epidemic in Nigeria.
Director of Corporate Accountability of ERA/FoEN, Akinbode Oluwafemi said at the presentation of a “Shadow report on Nigeria’s implementation of the FCTC Articles 5.3, 6. & 13” that over 25 bills were passed at the twilight of the last Senate.
He said that contrary to the provisions of the Nigerian constitution, “President Jonathan has failed in his primary responsibility to assent people-friendly bills into law, without giving reasons for so doing.
“This, therefore, raised questions on the validity of spending billions of naira on the current National Assembly, when the bills of the last assembly will not be signed into law and none of the legislators is asking question,” he said.
Oluwafemi added that the shadow report done in Abuja, Enugu and Lagos has shown that provisions for tobacco control in the public had not been adhered to in several public places.
The goal of the shadow report is to monitor and report on Nigeria’s efforts at implementing the provisions of the FCTC articles 5.3 (industry interference), 6 (price and tax measures to reduce demand for tobacco) and 13 (tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship).
According to him, the report finds that the existing ban on outdoor or billboard advertising has been largely conformed to by the tobacco industry, as there was strict compliance with the regulations on outdoor advertising in the monitored cities.
Meanwhile, the ban on POS advertising has been largely ignored. Most of the stores and supermarkets advertise tobacco products and some even expose cigarette shelves to young people and underage persons.
“During the shadow report, ERA/FoEN was able to establish that Nigeria is still far behind in implementing tax measures to reduce the demand for tobacco. Also, the average price of a pack of cigarette in Nigeria today is N300, while the average discounted price stands at N80.
“Nigerian government officials lack the required understanding on the methods used by the tobacco industry to influence government policies and legislations.
“The tobacco industry has leveraged on its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to weaken government’s resolve for effective tobacco legislation,” the report reads in part.
Oluwafemi added that it is now evident that a lot depends on the prompt signing into law of the NTCB by the president to make the overall enforcement of the principles of the FCTC possible in Nigeria.
He noted that while states like Osun and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were moving ahead with the smoke-free public places ban, the issues of single sticks sale of tobacco, pictorial warning, tobacco industry interference, taxation etc, would have to wait until the national bill is signed.
Head of the anti-tobacco campaign group ERA/FoEN, Seun Akioye, therefore, called on President Jonathan and lawmakers in the country to expedite action on the anti-tobacco bill among others.
“We call on National Assembly members to fish out the bill wherever it is hidden. It is to save lives of Nigerians. This is the only bill that will, for the first time, benefit Nigerians directly, especially health-wise,” Akioye said.


Wole Oyebade

GROUP URGES PRESIDENT TO SIGN TOBACCO BILL

Group calls for urgent passage of tobacco bill to law

 Env i r o n m e n t a l Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/ FoEN) has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to, as a matter of urgency, sign to law the National Tobacco Control Bill in order to save the lives of millions of Nigerians who are daily smoking to their grave. Director of Corporate Accountability of ERA/ FoEN, Mr Olufemi Akinbode, who disclosed this while presenting the shadow report on the implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, FCTC, said the bill which scaled the second reading in the sixth Senate in February 2009, failed to see the light of the day till today.

 Against this background, Akinbode said his group has to research on the shadow report in order to draw the attention of the current senate and Nigerians to the incalculable damage the failure of not passing the bill will cause Nigerian citizens.
He lamented that seven years after Nigeria ratified the FCTC; it has not made any appreciable progress towards the eradication of the tobacco epidemic and reduction of addiction, because the process of domestication cannot take place until the President signs the bill to law.
 
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