Nigeria Remains At A Loss Over Smoking

Osun bans smoking in public

By Collins Nweze

The Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has commended the Osun State government for signing the Osun State Prohibition of Smoking in Public Places Bill 2009 into law. The agency said the decision is one of the most far-reaching efforts taken by any state in the country to safeguard public health.
The bill prohibits smoking in cinemas, theatres or the stadia, medical establishments, hotels; offices, schools and public transportation, nursery institutions and lifts.
Another major highlight of the bill is that it prohibits smoking in both private and public vehicles with a non- smoking occupant below 18.
In a statement in Lagos, the group said the government had taken a lead and demonstrated its responsiveness to the well-being of its people and public health and should be emulated by other states.
"The Nigerian tobacco control community lauds this enviable step by the Osun State government as it will go a long way in checkmating the growing number of tobacco–induced deaths that have been on the steady increase," said ERA/FoEN Programme Manager, Akinbode Oluwafemi.
He, however, noted: "Paradoxically, while Osun State has taken practical steps in safeguarding public health, the National Assembly is still foot-dragging on translating the all-encompassive National Tobacco Control Bill (NTCB) into law even with the overwhelming support that the bill engendered at the public hearing on July 20-21 last year.
Reiterating the group’s call for the National Assembly to expedite action on the NTCB, Oluwafemi said that Nigerians are dying by the seconds due to tobacco addiction while tobacco manufacturers smile to the banks. Every day that we delay the implementation of strict laws, there will be more deaths, more ill-heaths and the economy will suffer. The trend globally showed that only far-reaching laws can stop a gale of deaths spurred by tobacco smoke.
Tobacco currently kills 5.4 million people and if current trend continues it will kill about eight million by 2015, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

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Women smokers risk early death, cancer

As the World No Tobacco Day approaches, the United States (US)-based National Cancer Institute has warned that women who smoke have higher risks than non smokers of early death and of developing cancer and other diseases related to the heart and lungs.
Also, women who smoke have been causioned to desist from doing so as they may experience early menopause and irregular painful menstrual period.
According to a study by Inga Cecilie Soerheim and her colleagues from the University of Bergen, Norway, cigarette smoking is more harmful to women than to men because women have smaller airways.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimate that 20 per cent of smokers are women.
Similarly, research has shown that most women that smoke are between the ages of 25 and 44. Besides, teenage women also make up a significant percentage, too.
Research has shown that smoking is hazardous for pregnant women. It affects the health of not only the mother but also the child.
Smoking during pregnancy may result in low birth weight, premature delivery and miscarriage. Smoking is also not advisable for those who are taking oral contraceptives because it increases the risk of stroke and heart attack in this group.
It is against this background that this year’s World No Tobacco Day that will be commemorated on Monday, March 31, has been stream lined to show how tobacco affects the female gender’s health. Although the World No Tobacco Day 2010 campaign will focuse on tobacco marketing to women, it will also take into account the need to protect boys and men from the tobacco companies’ tactics.
Smoking causes many health problems in women. It leads to irreparable damage to women’s health and to that of the people around them. A smoking habit may be difficult to break, but understanding the long-term damage may help overcome the addiction.
Apart from drawing particular attention to the harmful effects of tobacco marketing towards women and girls, the 2010 World No Tobacco Day will also highlight the need for the nearly 170 Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to ban all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship in accordance with their constitutions or constitutional principles.
Explaining why the programme should focus on women, the WHO in its 2007 report, Gender and Tobacco Control: a Policy Brief, stated, “Generic tobacco control measures may not be equally or similarly effective in respect to the two sexes…[A] gendered perspective must be included…It is therefore important that tobacco control policies recognise and take into account gender norms, differences and responses to tobacco in order to reduce tobacco use and improve the health of men and women worldwide”.
In another 2007 report, Sifting the Evidence: Gender and Tobacco Control, WHO commented, “Both men and women need full information about the sex-specific effects of tobacco use…equal protection from gendere-based advertising and marketing and the development of sex-specific tobacco products by transnational tobacco companies…[and] gender-sensitive information about, and protection from, second-hand smoke and occupational exposure to tobacco or nicotine”.

By Sola Omisore


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BAT caught in illegal policy deal

By Our Reporter

The British American Tobacco (BAT) and the Kenya government are embroiled in a tussle over an insurance policy for farmers which the nation’s insurance regulator has declared illegal.
Following the introduction of farmer insurance last year, BAT is now offering its 5,000 contracted growers’ crop insurance against extreme weather conditions and pest outbreaks.
While farmers have lauded the move, the Tobacco Control Board has come out with guns blazing and declared the development an attempt to promote tobacco, which they say is against the law.
The policy developed by UAP Insurance in partnership with Chancery Wright has been introduced to farmers in Western Province, and is set to roll out to other regions.
The control board, however, say BAT and UAP have gone against the anti-tobacco legislation introduced in 2007 which bars the promotion of cigarettes.
"We will make sure that BAT and UAP Insurance do not get away with this because we have the law on our side," said Prof Peter Odhiambo, the Chairman of the board.
"We will deal firmly with companies that collude with cigarette manufacturers to break the law. Insuring tobacco farmers is another way of increasing the production of tobacco which is detrimental to public health. Farmers should consider alternative crops," said Odhiambo.
BAT says the board’s move has caused panic among its businesses partners who are asking whether the tobacco business is now illegal and risky.
"Our suppliers are worried and want clarification on what services tobacco manufacturers are allowed, if they cannot sell insurance to farmers," said Julie Adell-Owino, BAT’s Head of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs.
BAT says its farmers sign a binding code of conduct which restricts tobacco growing to one-quarter of the size of the farm while they must grow woodlots for fuel and environmental care.
"We provide the farmers with seedlings to grow trees, which is a condition for getting into a grower-supplier contract," Ms Adell-Owino, said, adding that the farmers are closely supervised by its field officers to ensure they do not employ child labour, that they take their children to school and grow food crops as well.
The possible action the state agency might take includes stopping the marketing of the insurance cover and taking the twin firms to court in what promises to be a protracted legal battle.
Anti-tobacco crusaders say the new insurance product marketed by BAT and UAP Insurance violates Section 24 of the Act which prohibits the promotion of tobacco products by means of testimonials or endorsements.
But Ms Adell-Owino charged: "The Tobacco Control Act does not dictate what crops anyone should grow neither does it dictate the parameters of business association or communication between industry players. It is, therefore, perfectly legitimate for us to engage our contracted farmers and continually work together for their welfare."
Already, about 1,000 farmers contracted by the multinationals have signed up for the product.
BAT says the cover is part of its corporate social responsibility seeking to protect contracted farmers who have incurred financial losses to the magnitude of Ksh150 million ($1.94 million) over the past three years as a result of natural calamities.
"Our contracted tobacco farmers are not compelled to take up the cover. If any party were forcing the hand of the tobacco farmers, then all 5,000 farmers would have had to take it up," said Ms Adell-Owino.
BAT says earnings by its contracted tobacco farmers have been on the increase, pointing to the benefits of the crop to farmers in Nyanza and Western regions.
In 2008, BAT paid its contracted farmers Ksh369 million ($4.79 million) while in 2009, it paid Ksh532 million ($6.9 million) and this year’s projection is pegged at Ksh660 million ($8.57 million).
The company is also among the country’s top tax payers. Last year it paid Ksh8 billion ($102.5 million) in taxes.

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NASS, pass the Tobacco Control Bill

I write, to call on the Senate Committee on health. led by Senator Iyabo Obasanjo Bello, and the leadership of the National Assembly, to move immediately to pass the National Tobacco Control Bill 2009, sponsored by Senator Olorunnibe Mamoora. The bill, which enjoyed the support of many senators is yet to be returned to the Senate Plenary after a public hearing was conducted in July 2009.

It is a fact that dangers are associated with smoking. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 5.4 million people die every year due to a tobacco-related diseases, with majority of these deaths happening in developing countries. Tobacco is the only consumer product that is guaranteed to kill half its consumers if used according to manufacturers intention. It contains more than 4,000 dangerous chemicals harmful to the body.

It is also a fact that stringent measures aimed at reducing smoking in Europe and America have driven the tobacco industry to developing countries like Nigeria, where the industry continues to flout regulations, marketing to young and impressionable youths, and hooking them on smoking.

Recent surveys suggested that more young people are becoming smokers every day, while a survey conducted in Lagos hospitals reveal that two persons die each day from a tobacco-related disease.

Governments all over the world are putting measures in place to combat the epidemic through enactment of bills, like the one Senator Mamoora is proposing.It will be to the credit of the National Assembly to expedite action on the bill and pass it before the expiration of this democratic dispensation.

Nigeria played a major part in shaping global health policies, especially in tobacco control. The world is watching and waiting. The National Assembly cannot afford to fail Nigerians.

Seun Akioye,
1, Balogun Street, Off Awolowo way,
Ikeja, Lagos.

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BAT gets new MD

Ms Beverley Spencer-Obatoyinbo has been appointed Managing Director of the British American Tobacco (BAT) West Africa.
She will be based at the BAT head office in Lagos.
Ms Spencer-Obatoyinbo joined the Rothmans Group in 1997 from the pharmaceutical industry and moved to BAT following a merger of the two companies in 1999.
She has since held various marketing and general management roles across Africa. These included Marketing Director, Nigeria, and for the last three years, the General Manager, Egypt.


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Blacks hit hardest by lung cancer

Blacks are hit the hardest when it comes to both developing and dying from lung cancer.
A new report from the American Lung Association paints a grim picture of how environmental factors, biological factors, cultural attitudes and biases in the health-care system conspire to make this deadly disease even deadlier among members of this minority group.
”Despite lower smoking rates, African-Americans are more likely to develop and die from lung cancer than whites. African-Americans are more likely to be diagnosed later when the cancer is more advanced. Also, African-Americans are more likely to wait longer after the diagnosis to receive treatment or perhaps to refuse treatment and to die in the hospital after surgery,” Dr. William J. Hicks, professor of clinical medicine at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute in Columbus, said during a Monday news conference.
Black men bear an even more disproportionate share of the burden, being 37 per cent more likely to be diagnosed with lung cancer and 22 per cent more likely to die of the disease than white men.
Only 12 per cent of blacks will be alive five years after their lung cancer diagnosis, compared with 16 per cent of whites, the ALA report notes.
The report points to a number of factors that could explain the disparity, including differences in socioeconomic status, big business behavior and environmental exposure.
For instance, thanks to concerted marketing efforts by the tobacco industry, blacks have higher rates of smoking menthol cigarettes than other groups. Smokers of menthol cigarettes tend to have higher blood levels of cotinine, an indicator of how much nicotine a person is absorbing. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to issue a report on the public health impact of menthol cigarettes in March of 2011.
Education and income levels also play a role. Not only do these factors impact lifestyle choices and access to health care, including health insurance, but they largely determine where blacks are likely to work and live.
According to one study, predominantly black neighborhoods have noticeably higher levels of air pollution than other communities. And a greater proportion of blacks work in the transportation industry, where they are exposed to diesel fumes, known to contribute to lung cancer risk.
Meanwhile, blacks are less likely to have a gene variant that is targeted by a widely used cancer drug.
The good news is that if individuals, regardless of race, receive equal treatment for lung cancer, their outcomes are likely to be similar.
However, as Hicks pointed out, ”the sad truth is that not all patients receive equal treatment and for those who do not, their health outcomes are poorer.”
Blacks are also less likely to be seen by experienced or credentialed doctors and hospitals, less likely to have their disease staged, less likely to have surgery and less likely to undergo chemotherapy.
These problems have to do with both patient and provider attitudes.
”We‘re looking not just at system failures but also at issues that are deeply rooted in the history, culture and beliefs of African-Americans,” Hicks said. ”This is not post-racial America. For people of color in the United States, race and discrimination are facts of everyday life, and clearly take a toll both mentally and with regard to one‘s physical health.”
There is, first of all, the legacy of the Tuskegee (syphilis) and other medical experiments of the past, in which blacks were exploited by the U.S. health-care establishment. That‘s made trust in the medical establishment an ongoing issue, the experts said.
And while doctors appear less likely to funnel black patients to the right kind of specialists, blacks are more likely to refuse gold-standard treatment even when it is offered and available, they added.
”This is not an issue that can be solved overnight,” said Chuck D. Connor, president and CEO of the American Lung Association. ”We‘ve made progress in reducing smoking rates and exposure to secondhand smoke, but there is still much work that needs to be done.”
Hicks said he hoped experts and community members could arrive at a new approach that will ”hopefully render this very preventable form of cancer to its state of 125 years ago, when it was a very rarely encountered medical issue, primarily before the advent of widespread cigarette smoking.”

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