In the May 11, 2009 edition of your esteemed newspaper, Mr. Moses Adeoja’s reaction to Mr. Philip Jakpor’s story was published. Observers and readers of events unfolding in relation to the National Tobacco Control Bill and Tobacco companies operating in Nigeria need no further clarification, as the truth and facts of the matter are crystal clear. Tobacco giants like BAT have for years hidden the truth about their product from the consumers and the general public.
The main issue is that BAT was delisted from the Ghanian Stock Exchange, how it came to be is definitely irrelevant. The issue of health should never be compromised: health is wealth. Whether BAT still operates in Ghana is also not relevant. This fact should be clear to all health conscious individuals, including Mr. Moses who claims to live in Ghana but wrote from Garki, Abuja, that Tobacco Kills. No matter how you want to look at this issue, Tobacco is a worsening epidemic which should be immediately controlled or better still stopped and this is what the National Tobacco Control Bill isset to achieve.
Akinola Tosin is a public health advocate and wrote in from Lagos, Nigeria
