Campaign Against Tobacco Smoking

THIS year’s World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) held recently has again brought to the fore the necessity to seriously address long-standing issue of smoking and its health implications in Nigeria. Over the years, tobacco smoking has been associated with grave health problems well-known to the tobacco companies as well as many consumers of the product, who suffer the deleterious consequences.

But business considerations on the part of the companies on the one hand; and addiction, coupled with ignorance on the part of most consumers, particularly in the developing world, on the other hand, threaten the anti tobacco smoking campaign and render it a herculean task. Worse still is the confirmed fact that non-smokers are exposed to even more critical health problems from passive smoking, all of which should spur the authorities to increase their effort to protect the citizens from preventable death.

Due of its alarming public health effects, tobacco smoking has been banned in many places in the developed world. Interestingly, the United States and many European countries are at the forefront of the fight against tobacco smoking. It would appear that the tobacco companies are consequently shifting ground and targeting poor African countries with teeming youthful population.

These issues formed the plank in this year’s anti-tobacco day. The World Health Organization (WHO) used the occasion to reiterate the dangers of tobacco smoking and the efforts being made to protect populations around the world. WHO’s estimate that tobacco smoking would kill more than eight million people annually by 2030 is frightening, showing that the battle against tobacco is far from being won. And this is attributable to the aggressive marketing strategy of tobacco manufacturers.

Assertive adverts displayed on any available media space portray false satisfaction to smokers. The caution on tobacco packs that cigarette smoking can kill or is injurious to health does not seem to restrain the addicts, and is often inconspicuously displayed. Millions are dying silently every year from tobacco related health problems. It has been found that tobacco is a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases. Sadly, there is no reliable statistics on the deaths or illnesses caused by tobacco smoking in Nigeria to enable the health authorities take full control measures.

WHO has reportedly released a technical brief based on the 2008 guidelines for implementation of Article 5.3 of the 2003 WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, to help guide countries on ways to combat “tobacco industry interference” in the anti-tobacco campaign.  According to the organisation’s Director General, Dr. Margaret Chan, “In recent years, multinational tobacco companies have been shamelessly fuelling a series of legal actions against governments that have been in the forefront of the war against tobacco”.

She noted that the industry is now stepping out of shadow into court rooms, thereby making it imperative for a united effort to support governments that have the courage to do the right thing to protect their citizens. Unfortunately, corruption is a potent factor that would hinder some governments. Corrupt government officials who should engage the tobacco companies may be compromised thereby defeating the effort of government.

The tobacco industry is a big mafia made up of rich multinational operators with the capacity to fight back against perceived blackmail of their products using all manner of tactics to achieve their aim. This resistance poses a serious challenge against governments and the anti tobacco campaign, which are nevertheless urged to resist the antics of the tobacco companies. In the words of Dr. Douglas Bettcher, Director of WHO’s Tobacco Free Initiative, “national leaders should resist these tactics and use the full force of the Convention to protect the hard-won gains to safeguard people’s health from the scourge of tobacco”.

It is worrisome that multinational tobacco companies that were finding it increasingly difficult to operate in the developed world are relocating to Africa and other developing regions of the world, cashing in on the apparently weak and corrupt governments, and the good market prospects they found in the teeming youthful population, which are obvious targets.

In Nigeria, the big tobacco manufacturers are mounting resistance against any move to discourage the smoking habit. One such company, the other day, rejected the accusations of “industry interference” in public health policy making, as charged by WHO and anti-tobacco campaigners promoting the “World No Tobacco Day”. It has consistently defended what it perceives as “its right to engage transparently on issues affecting its legitimate business selling a legal, highly regulated product that mainly adults choose to use”. Surely this resistance is tantamount to waging a silent war on the citizenry.

There is need for more public enlightenment on the dangers of tobacco smoking. Government should use media adverts, radio and TV jingles, as well as bill boards to discourage people from smoking. People should be told that nicotine is a poison and its addiction is dangerous to health and could lead to early death. They should be educated that the life style portrayed in tobacco adverts is false and leads to no benefits.

Finally, government should curb the activities of the tobacco companies. No responsible government would sit back and allow the unrestrained production and sale of products that are injurious to the populace. The Federal Government should resist the flooding of the Nigerian market with tobacco products that were banned in other countries.

SOURCE

WHO, rights' groups take on 'Big Tobacco' over smoking

• Two new reports released yesterday in Singapore by the Tobacco Atlas  and the Tobacco Watch Monitoring Countries’ Performance on the Global Treaty, reveal how tobacco companies in Nigeria and other countries lure people to smoke and die slowly, reports OLUKOREDE YISHAU in Singapore

Which does the world prefer: tobacco or health? Expectedly, the global community settled for health, but tobacco companies are doing all they can to lure more people into smoking.  

A report released yesterday by the Tobacco Atlas and Tobacco Watch Monitoring Counties Performance on the Global Treaty painted a graphic picture of the tobacco epidemic, and the progress that has been made in tobacco control.  The report also highlighted the latest products and tactics being deployed by the lucrative tobacco industry such as the new meida, trade litigation and aggressive development of smokeless products to roast control .

These are contained in the Fourth Edition of the Tobacco Atlas unveiled yesterday by the American Cancer, Society (ACS) and World Hung Foundation at the 15th World conference on Tobacco or Health (WCTH) in Singapore.  Before the report was unveiled. 

Akinbode Oluwafemi, director in charge of Corporate Accountability at the Environmental Rights Action (ERA), who is attending the conference, told  reporters at a seminar organised by the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids (CTFK), that statistics suggests that less people in Nigeria and the rest of Africa smoke cigarett, adding: “This should be good news, but tobacco giants are using this to advantage by focusing attention in Nigeria and the rest of Africa because they are facing heat in the developed world.”

His observations are supported by the Tobacco Atlas  report. The Tobacco Atlas puts the cost of tobacco smoking to the Nigerian economy in terms of losses to treatment and low productivity at $591m annually. It said 17 billion cigarettes are produced in the country annually and showed that more people are getting into tobacco use. 

The Tobacco Atlas said the burden of tobacco cultivation, consumption, illness and death is moving from developed to developing parts of the world and is taking an increased toll on low and middle-income countries to the extent that nearly 80 percent of those who die from tobacco-related illnesses are in low and middle-income countries.

According to the Tobacco Atlas, estimates of revenues from the global tobacco industry likely approach a half trillion U.S. dollars annually. In 2010, the combined profits of the six leading tobacco companies, the British American Tobacco (BAT), which is the market leader in Nigeria, Phillips Morris International, and others, was U.S. $35.1 billion. This, noted the report, is equal to the combined profits of Coca-Cola, Microsoft, and McDonald’s in the same year. 

A statement by ACS said: “If Big Tobacco were a country, it would have a gross domestic product (GDP) of countries like Poland, Saudi Arabia, Sweden and Venezuela.”

The statement added: “In 2011, according to the Tobacco Atlas, tobacco use killed almost six million people, with nearly 80 per cent of these deaths occurring in low and middle-income countries. When considering 2010 deaths with tobacco industry revenue, the tobacco industry realises almost $6,000 in profit for each death caused by tobacco.

“If trends continue, one billion people will die from tobacco use and exposure during the 21st century –one person every six seconds. 

Globally, tobacco-related deaths have nearly tripled  in the past decade, and it is responsible for more than 15 percent of all male deaths and 7percent of female deaths. Tobacco is also a risk factor for the four leading non-communicable diseases (NCDs) –cancer, heart disease, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases which account for more than 63 percent of global deaths, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

“Tobacco use is the number one killer in China, causing 1.2 million deaths annually; this is expected to rise to 3.5 million deaths annually by the year 2030. Tobacco is also responsible for the greatest proportion of male deaths in Turkey (38 percent) and Kazakhstan (35 percent), and the greatest proportion of female deaths in the Maldives (25 percent) and the United States (23 percent).

“Uniquely among cancer-causing agents, however, tobacco is a man-made problem that is completely preventable through proven public policies. Effective measures include tobacco taxes, advertising bans, smoke-free public places, mass media campaigns and effective health warnings. These cost-effective policies are among those included in the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), a global treaty endorsed by more than 174 countries, and recommended by the WHO in its MPOWER policy package.”

The Tobacco Atlas shows that countries such as Nigeria, where tobacco giants operate, bear direct costs that arise from health care expenditures for treating smoking-related illnesses and indirect costs as a result of lost productivity and cost of premature deaths. 

Chief Executive of the ACS John Seffrin said: “We can no longer deny nor accept the massive human and economic harm caused by tobacco. This book is a vital tool for not only public health advocates, but also for governments, economists, educators and the media to use to tell the story of how a cohesive, well-funded tobacco industry is systematically causing preventable deaths and crippling economies. We know what needs to be done to counteract these tactics and save up to hundreds of millions of lives.” 

For the Chief Executive Officer of the World Lung Cancer Organisation,  Peter Baldinin, “The tobacco industry thrives on ignorance of the true harms of tobacco use and using misinformation to subvert health policies that could save millions. The Tobacco Atlas graphically illustrates the human toll and massive scale of the tobacco epidemic, breaking the best and most recent evidence out of the research world for an audience that can affect change. We urge advocates, media, governments and health professionals to visit tobaccoatlas.org website and use the available data to expose the deadly harms of tobacco and the industry that benefits from those harms.”

Another report released at the WCTOH, which paints the danger in the tobacco giants is the Tobacco Watch: Monitoring Countries’ Performance on the Global Treaty.

 The report accused BAT, Phillip Morris International and Japan Tobacco of blocking plans in their host countries  to control use of cigarettes.

The Framework Convention Alliance (FCA), which issued the report, said by blocking tobacco control plans, tobacco giants are increasing death rates associated with tobacco use. Tobacco use, said the report, is responsible for the death of nearly six million people annually, 70 percent of them in the developing world. It added that if current trends continue, one billion people will die of tobacco-related causes in the 21st century. The report documents activities in countries that are parties to the first global health treaty, the WHO-FCTC to interfere with regulations.

FCA Director Laurent Huber said: “For example, half of the national NGO partners that collected research indicated that the tobacco industry is running so-called corporate social responsibility (CSR) campaigns in their countries.

“Tobacco industry activities like those reported in Tobacco Watch do more than violate Article 5.3 of the FCTC: they impede progress on implementing all other measures in the Convention, which are proven to be effective and cost-effective.

“In fact, the Political Declaration of the United Nations NCD Summit recognised the key role of tobacco control in combating NCDs –which account for 60 percent of the world’s deaths and specifically recommended accelerating implementation of the FCTC.”  

 Yul Francisco Dorado of Corporate Accountability International said: “This year’s Tobacco Watch reminds us that the primary challenge the treaty faces is not a lack of political or public will, but a defiant, invasive and ultimately deadly industry. Ending tobacco industry interference is paramount to the success of the treaty at large.”

Oluwafemi said: “With more than 170 Parties, the FCTC is one of the most successful international conventions. It includes other specific steps for governments addressing tobacco use, including to:  adopt tax and price measures to reduce tobacco consumption; create smoke-free work and public spaces; put prominent health warnings on tobacco packages; and combat illicit trade in tobacco products. 

“The big tobacco are doing their best to ensure regulations are not enforced in line with the FCTC by using tactics hidden under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to hoodwink people in government into toeing their way at the risk of the people’s health. These tactics include: partnership agreements between government and industry; industry-run programmes claiming to prevent youth smoking; and training for farmers.” 

 Tursan d’Espaignet of the WHO’s Tobacco Free Initiative, in a paper entitled: “Mortality Attributable to Tobacco- a Global Report,” said tobacco is the only legal drug that kills many of its users when used exactly as intended by manufacturers. He said: “Direct tobacco smoking kills five million people per year; second hand smoking kills 600,000 people per year, which means tobacco kills more than tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria combined.  If effective measures are not urgently taken, tobacco could, in the 21st century, kill over 1 billion people.”

No wonder WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan, in a keynote address at the WCOTH, described tobacco smoking as a drive-by shooting capable of killing even by-standers.

By OLUKOREDE YISHAU 

Preventing Tobacco Addiction Among Our Women

The recently released statistics by the World Health Organisation (WHO) of an increasing global trend of women and girls who have taken to the deadly habit of tobacco smoking is scary. Of the 5.4 million victims that die every year, 1.5 million are girls and women. In half of the 151 countries recently surveyed, approximately as many girls use tobacco as boys. WHO even claims that Nigeria is not only amongst these countries but now has more female smokers than males. Contestable as this may seem, it is no doubt a warning signal that urgent intervention from all concerned organs of government is necessary.

According to WHO’s Director General, Dr. Margaret Chan, the trend in some countries is “extremely worrisome”. She also asserts that that tobacco use “is neither liberating nor glamorous”, contrary to the advert campaign of the marketers. It is probable that this misconception is helping to lure more girls into the widening web of the addictive consumption.
The theme of the 2010 anti-tobacco campaign is focused on ‘tobacco and women’, with an emphasis on marketing to women and the concomitant harmful effects. Similarly, the need for governments to ban the advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco is being highlighted, with the aim of eliminating tobacco smoke from all public places. The goal is in tandem with WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
A new strategy being used by manufacturers and marketers is to link smoking with attractiveness, which easily fascinates young girls, ultimately making them helpless victims. Nigeria’s inclusion in countries with worsening tobacco use, it has been revealed, is also traceable to the harmful effects of passive or second-hand smoking. Also, growing social frustration caused by poor governance has led to mass youth unemployment and the erroneous belief that smoking offers some relief, even if temporarily. Up North, seasonal harsh weather sometimes induces more people into smoking. Unfortunately, they end up harming their pulmonary system more than they care to know.
Smoking refers basically to the habit of inhaling smoke from cigarettes. Not a few teenagers imbibe it from their parents, relations and friends, who are smokers. The health consequences are grave, however, for the users as well as those around them. According to the WHO, tobacco smoke contains some 4,000 deadly chemicals, chief of which are vaporized nicotine, carbon monoxide and tar, concentrated at the end of the cigarette stick. The first signs of ill health arising from tobacco use is a slight cough, which graduates to bronchial cough, that later degenerates into lung cough. Research specialists explain that the toxic chemicals settle at the junction of the bronchus and bronchioles, where most cases of lung cancer begin. In addition, the membranes lining the respiratory system become thickened with the irritating chemicals. This causes the removal of the protective cilia which normally absorb dust and pathogenic microbes that could cause life-threatening diseases.
Once the smoke is continually inhaled it contracts the air passage and constricts the voice box or larynx, leading to swollen vocal cords and smokers’ cough. In severe cases, it causes chronic bronchitis and laryngeal cancer. In addition, the presence of the aldehydes in smoke worsens stomach ulcer. Smoke reduces the oxygen-carrying capacity of blood, thereby weakening the power of the cells to function optimally. Its deposits narrow the arteries, causing gangrene, leading to amputation for some victims.
Researches since 1939 have indicated the bad effects of smoking in advanced countries. But the WHO says that today over 80 percent of the world’s one billion smokers live in low- and middle-income countries. This reflects the fact that several major cigarette manufacturers have relocated from the advanced economies with their more stringent anti-tobacco laws, and are now consciously exporting death to the developing countries. According to the Programme Manager of Environmental Rights in Nigeria, an affiliate of Friends Of The Earth, Akin Oluwafemi, two persons die each day in Lagos hospitals as a consequence of tobacco–related ailments.
This is a dangerous trend, and we are alarmed, in this connection, that the Senator Olorunimbe Mamora-sponsored Anti-tobacco Bill is suffering from what he terms deliberate moves to scuttle it by some of his colleagues. The fact that the Senate Committee on Health is headed by a female lawmaker, Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, and the focus of this year’s anti-tobacco theme is on discouraging women from smoking, should help to speed up the bill’s passage into law.
Expansion in economic production, leading to mass creation of jobs especially for the idle youth, will reduce the helplessness of the government in accepting the short-term economic benefits of tobacco manufacturing in the country. What use is it, in the long run, to offer jobs to some citizens in tobacco factories and farms, and pay taxes into the public coffers, only for the people’s health to be destroyed some years later at a prohibitive cost to public health care and citizens’ purses? The government cannot fold its arms and allow this preventable scourge to ravage the public, already battling with a legion other woes. No effort should be spared in discouraging Nigerian smokers, especially the future mothers of our children, from preventable death.

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Women losing the battle against tobacco use

By Ben Ukwuoma

AS the world marks this year’s World No Tobacco Day, the evidence of tobacco use among young females is increasing in many countries and regions. This has reopened the call for governments to ban all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship and to eliminate tobacco smoking in all public and work places as provided in the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. PETRESE is not only pretty, she is intelligent, too. She is also from a family that is comfortable. That gave her an early expose to many good and bad things in life. One of the bad things she herself admits to nowadays is smoking.

At 24, she has double Master’s degrees. She drinks strong alcohol like fish drinks water. And she lights another stick of cigarette before she snuffs off an earlier one. Since the last two odd years, she intermittently coughs and no medication has been able to cure it. Just last week, a comprehensive medical check on her lungs revealed large dark spots. Her physician last week broke the news of an affliction of cancer of the lungs to her heart-broken parents. Petrese is on the fast lane to early death.

But she is not alone. There are many, old and young, men and women, illiterate and elites who are hooked on excessive use of tobacco. Medically, it has been confirmed that of the over five million people who die each year from tobacco use, approximately 1.5 million are women.

Unless urgent action is taken, experts say that tobacco use could kill more than eight million people by 2030, of whom 2.5 million would be women.

Approximately, three-quarters of these female deaths would occur in the low-income and middle-income countries that are least able to absorb such losses. Every one of these premature deaths would have been avoidable.In some countries, the bigger threat to women is from exposure to the smoke of others, particularly men. Isidore S. Obot of the Department of General and Applied Psychology, University of Jos, Plateau State, carried out a study on the incidence of cigarette smoking, cigar/pipe tobacco and snuff use in the Nigerian population. In a sample of 1,271 adult heads of household (1,137 males, 134 females), the overall prevalence of regular smoking was 22.6 per cent. The proportions of regular cigar/pipe tobacco and snuff users were 17.9 per cent and 9.6 per cent. Among cigarette smokers, 60.6 per cent smoked at least half a pack a day, 11.2 per cent at least one pack a day. Males smoked more than females. The poor, uneducated respondents smoked more than the relatively rich and educated. Smoking was more rampant in the third decade of life than in other age groups. Smokers had a higher incidence of health problems and both nonsmokers and heavy smokers were less aware of the risk of smoking than light smokers. In the light of the above, it is suggested that health education should be a major component of tobacco and health policy in Nigeria. The harmful health effects of smoking cigarettes presented below only begin to convey the longterm side effects of smoking. Quitting makes sense for many reasons but simply put: Smoking is bad for health.Worldwide, of the approximately 430,000 adult deaths caused every year by second-hand smoke, about 64 per cent occur in women.

On World No Tobacco Day 2010 today, focus is on the harm which tobacco marketing and smoke do to women. At the same time, it seeks to make men more aware of their responsibility to avoid smoking around the women with whom they live and work.

Women, and men, must be protected from tobacco industry marketing and smoke, as stated in the preamble to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. In effect since 2005, this international treaty acknowledges "the increase in smoking and other forms of tobacco consumption by women and young girls worldwide" and explicitly recognises "the need for gender-specific tobacco control strategies".

Unfortunately, less than nine per cent of the world's population is covered by comprehensive advertising bans. Only 5.4 per cent is covered by comprehensive national smoke-free laws.The rising epidemic of tobacco use among women has forced the WHO to issue an alert, calling countries to protect women and girls against the sickness and suffering caused by tobacco use. In half of the 151 countries recently surveyed for trends in tobacco use among young people, approximately as many girls used tobacco as boys. More girls used tobacco than boys in some of the countries, including Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Cook Islands, Croatia, Czech Republic, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria and Uruguay.WHO Director-General, Dr. Margaret Chan says: "Tobacco use is neither liberating nor glamorous. It is addictive and deadly."

This year’s campaign theme, “gender and tobacco” with an emphasis on “marketing to women”, focuses on the harmful effects of tobacco marketing towards women and girls.It also highlights the need for governments to ban all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship and to eliminate tobacco smoke in all public and work places as provided in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.Women are a major target for the tobacco industry in its effort to recruit new users to replace those who will quit or die prematurely from tobacco-related diseases.

"We know that tobacco advertising increasingly targets girls," said WHO Assistant Director-General for Non-communicable Diseases and Mental Health, Dr. Ala Alwan. "This campaign calls attention to the tobacco industry's attempts to market its deadly products by associating tobacco use with beauty and liberation."

Often the threat to women is less from their being enticed to smoke or chew tobacco than from their being exposed to the smoke of others, particularly men.

"By enforcing the WHO Framework Convention, governments can reduce the toll of fatal and crippling heart attacks, strokes, cancers and respiratory diseases that have become increasingly prevalent among women," says Dr. Douglas Bettcher, Director of WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative.

WHO calls on governments and the public to demand a ban on all forms of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship; to support implementation and strong enforcement of legislation to provide 100 per cent protection from tobacco smoke in all public and work places; and to take global action to advocate for women's freedom from tobacco. The health hazards of smoking are well documented, and prevention of smoking has been described as the single greatest opportunity for preventing non-communicable disease in the world today.Cigarette smoking during pregnancy is said to increase the risk of low birth weight, prematurity, spontaneous abortion, reduction in breast milk and perinatal mortality in humans, which has been referred to as the fetal tobacco syndrome. Smoking increases women's risk for cancer of the cervix. There is a possible link between active smoking and premenopausal breast cancer.

The health effects of tobacco are the circumstances, mechanisms, and factors of tobacco consumption on human health. Epidemiological research has been focused primarily on tobacco smoking, which has been studied more extensively than any other form of consumption.

Tobacco use leads most commonly to diseases affecting the heart and lungs, with smoking being a major risk factor for heart attacks, strokes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema, and cancer (particularly lung cancer, cancers of the larynx and mouth, and pancreatic cancer). It also causes peripheral vascular disease and hypertension, all developed due to the exposure time and the level of dosage of tobacco. Furthermore, the earlier and the higher level of tar content in the tobacco-filled cigarettes cause the greater risk of these diseases.

Cigarettes sold in developing nations are said to have higher tar content, and are less likely to be filtered, potentially increasing vulnerability to tobacco-related disease in these regions.Smoke contains several carcinogenic pyrolytic products that bind to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and cause many genetic mutations. There are over 19 known chemical carcinogens in cigarette smoke. Tobacco also contains nicotine, which is a highly addictive psychoactive chemical.

When tobacco is smoked, nicotine causes physical and psychological dependency. Tobacco use is also a significant factor in miscarriages among pregnant smokers. It contributes to a number of other threats to the health of the foetus such as premature births and low birth weight and increases by 1.4 to three times the chance for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). The result of scientific studies done in neonatal rats seems to indicate that exposure to cigarette smoke in the womb may reduce the foetal brain's ability to recognise hypoxic conditions, thus increasing the chance of accidental asphyxiation.

Incidence of impotence is approximately 85 per cent higher in male smokers compared to non-smokers, and it is a key cause of erectile dysfunction (ED).

Generally, women's reasons for smoking often differ from men's. The tobacco industry cons many women into believing that smoking is a sign of liberation, and many women wrongly view smoking as a good way of keeping slim.Controlling the epidemic of tobacco among women is an important part of any tobacco control strategy. As Mrs. Chan said: "Protecting and promoting the health of women is crucial to health and development – not only for the citizens of today but also for those of future generation. In many countries, vastly more men smoke than women, and many of those countries fail to protect nonsmokers adequately”.

In many countries, women are powerless to protect themselves, and their children, from second-hand smoke.

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Pass National Tobacco Control Bill now, ERA Urges N/Assembly

On the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the coming into force of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has decried the lack-lustre approach of the National Assembly to the speedy passage into law of the National Tobacco Control Bill, saying further delay in the passage of the bill may cost the nation more tobacco related deaths.
The FCTC which has been signed and ratified by over 168 countries including Nigeria came into force in 2005 and is the first treaty negotiated under the auspices of the World Health Organisation (WHO) to draw global action against tobacco-related deaths.
The WHO says tobacco-related deaths stand at 5.4 million people annually and projects this will increase beyond 8 million over the next two decades, with the majority of lives lost in developing countries. It therefore insists that strong worldwide enforcement and implementation of the FCTC could save 200 million lives by the year 2050.
Nigeria which signed the FCTC in 2004 and ratified in 2005 has been recording more deaths relating to tobacco, especially cancer.
“The fifth year of FCTC entering into force calls for sober reflection for us as a nation because in the last five years little progress has been made in domesticating the FCTC. This has not been without a grave impact on the citizenry because within this period we have lost talented musicians, journalists and even doctors, no thanks to nearly no regulation of an industry that markets a lethal product in beautiful wraps, ” said ERA/FoEN Programme Manager, Akinbode Oluwafemi.
Oluwafemi pointed out that “Nigerians are unhappy with the slow response of government to public health protection , especially with the way the tobacco control bill has been neglected after the public hearing held in July 2009. We are further dismayed that there is an alleged clandestine moves by tobacco lobbyists to compromise our law makers with the intent of thwarting the passage of the national tobacco control bill.”
“How else can you explain our law makers’ foot-dragging on the bill nearly one year after the public hearing? This action is anti-people and seriously compromises our democracy. Our lawmakers should stand by the people who have spoken in unison at the public hearing and abide by the principles of the FCTC which has reduced tobacco-related deaths in countries that have implemented the provisions”
In the February 26 anniversary speech, Director General of the WHO, Dr. Margaret Chan, said recent studies estimates that full implementation of just four cost-effective measures set out in the FCTC could prevent 5.5 million deaths within a decade.
Similar sentiments were echoed by tobacco control groups across the world. The Framework Convention Alliance (FCA), a network of tobacco control groups from across the globe said that countries that have implemented the FCTC provisions like ban on tobacco advertisingand sponsorships have gone a long way in reducing deaths.
FCA Director, Laurent Huber, noted however, that “tobacco use remains high in low and middle income countries and is increasing among women and young people...We have had five years of good progress on policy but deaths due to tobacco use continue to rise. Governments need to fund their policy promises to stem the tide of tobacco deaths”
Another group, Corporate Accountability International, warned on the tobacco industry’s track-record of trying to water down on the implementation of the FCTC.
The organisation’s Director, Campaign Challenging Big Tobacco, Gigi Kellett, revealed that “In July 2009, during an international protocol negotiating session, Parties identified and kicked tobacco lobbyists out of the process - a move made possible by Article 5.3., a provision of the FCTC which protects the treaty from tobacco industry interference in any guise. By that action, parties safeguarded the negotiations against the tobacco industry's fundamental and irreconcilable conflict of interest, sending a strong message to the industry.”
The FCTC entered into force in 2005. Parties are expected to domesticate the treaty by implementing national tobacco control coordinating mechanisms, prohibiting the sales of tobacco products to minors, and take measures to protect public health policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry.