Group reiterates call for Tobacco Law

As the world marks the ‘World No Tobacco Day' today, the anti-tobacco group, the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), has restated its call for the signing of the National Tobacco Control Bill into law.

Commemorated on the 31st of May of every year, the theme of this year's event is ‘The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC)'.

The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the first treaty to be negotiated under the auspices of the World Health Organisation, is an evidence-based treaty that reaffirms the right of all people to the highest standard of health. It is also the first regulatory strategy to address addictive substances.

The treaty entered into force in February 2006 while Nigeria signed and ratified it in 2004 and 2005 respectively.

"The choice of this year's theme cannot be more emphatic, given the current situations in Nigeria regarding our quest to ratify the FCTC by way of a domestic law," said Akinbode Oluwafemi, director of corporate campaigns at ERA/FoEN, in a chat with journalists to commemorate the event on Monday, in Lagos.

"This year, tobacco control groups all over the world will be reappraising their stand in regard to the provisions of the FCTC," Mr Oluwafemi said.

‘Concur the bill'

The National Tobacco Control Bill, which had been passed by the Senate in March this year, has just passed the first reading in the House of Representatives.

"Essentially, what we are saying is that rather than being bogged down by the politics of the two Houses, we are saying that this is a national call and what we need is just a concurrence," said Mr Oluwafemi.

"What we are doing now is to tell you we don't want it to pass through first, second and third readings because we have just three days," noted Mr Oluwafemi, on the time before the expiration of the tenure of the current members of the House.

"What we want is that the way other bills were passed, all those bills that they passed recently like the Sovereign Wealth bill and others, they take it to the House and they say ‘I concur.' Let them concur this bill because it has to be law. We just need very little effort now to get to where we need," Mr Oluwafemi added.

The anti-tobacco activist also insisted that the tobacco control bill, contrary to public perception, "is not an attack on smokers."

"Let me tell you that most smokers in the world actually want to quit. No survey that has been done among smokers that doesn't show 40 - 60 per cent support for Tobacco Control law because they are actually looking for motivation to be able to get out of smoking," he said.

"A lot of them that have started do not want their children to smoke, that is very clear. This not an attack on anybody. We think that it is rather they should help us to ensure that they get out of tobacco addiction," he added.

Awareness on dangers of smoking

The ‘World No Tobacco Day' is commemorated every year to create mass awareness about the dangers of smoking and to pressure governments and policy makers on the need to curb deaths and ill-health caused by smoking. Latest projections estimate that by 2030, tobacco-related deaths would rise to 10 million people a year.

"We are hoping and are believing God and we are counting on the integrity of these people that the bill will be passed because we know the amount of resources that have been committed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate, that they would not allow this effort to go wasted.

SOURCE

Environmentalists urge Reps to pass Tobacco Control Bill today

•Mark World No Tobacco Day

The Environmental Rights Action (ERA) yesterday urged the House Representatives to pass the National Tobacco Control Bill (NTCB) today.

Its Director, Corporate Accountability and Administration Mr Akinbode Oluwafemi, said the House of Representatives would make history by passing the bill on the day the world is making the World No Tobacco Day (WNTD).

He said the passage and assent of the bill would discourage tobacco use, a habit responsible for half of the death of its users worldwide.

He spoke to reporters yesterday during the organisation’s World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) programme in Lagos. The theme of today’s World No Tobacco Day is the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

Oluwafemi said the House of Representatives passed a Tobacco Control Bill in 2008, sponsored by Hon Friday Itular and Bassey Etim, adding that the Bill did not address the critical issues of tobacco use.

Tobacco use needs to be controlled because it is a public health concern, he added.

Oluwafemi said failure by the House of Representatives to pass the Bill would amount to wastage of taxpayers’ money, because the incoming lawmakers would have to commence the process from start.

"If they don’t pass the Bill before the end of their tenure, they would have to start the process of the passage from scratch which has economic effect on the country," he said.

Oluwafemi said the Bill conforms to the WHO/FCTC, adding that tobacco currently kills about six million people annually. "It is projected that it will kill 10 million people by 2030," he said.

He added: "The Bill from the Senate has passed first reading in the House. Let me on behalf of tobacco control groups in Nigeria salute the zeal and enthusiasm already shown by the sponsors of the bill and the House. This has given us the hope that the House will once again rise up to this challenge and concurs to the bill from the Senate.

"It is also noteworthy to mention that all the provisions raised in the bill by Hon Itular and Etim have also been comprehensively addressed by the bill from the Senate in order to ensure that it conforms with the standards recommended by the FCTC

"The bill has taken into cognisance every aspect of tobacco control and devised ways to protect our people from the dangers associated with smoking."

SOURCE 

MAKE TOBACCO BILL LAW

WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY 2011 - ERA MAKES CASE FOR ENFORCEMENT OF TOBACCO CONTROL LAWS

WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY 2011 - ERA MAKES CASE FOR THE ENFORCEMENT OF TOBACCO CONTROL BILL LAWS

The Tobacco Control Bill

RECENTLY, the Senate passed, to replace the Tobacco Smoking Control Act (1990), the Tobacco Control Bill that has been inching its way through the legislative process for more than two years.  This  legislation provides for, among other  things, a ban  on  tobacco advertising, sponsorship  and promotion,  forbids the sale of cigarette to persons  below age 18, bans  smoking in public places, and regulates the  manufacture, distribution  and marketing of  tobacco products in  Nigeria.

The passage of this bill is  certainly a vote in favour of  public health  for it is common knowledge today that  tobacco  consumption,  be it  by smoking, chewing, or snuffing, is  injurious one way or other, to the health of the  direct consumer, and, in the particular case of smoking, the health of  other persons nearby (that is second-hand  consumers). Besides,  the enactment of  a Tobacco Control law is, not only consistent with the modern trend of health consciousness  across the globe, it is also in line with the World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a treaty developed  to arrest the  growing use of tobacco and its attendant threat to public health around the world. It has been in force since early 2005 and it must be noted, Nigeria is a signatory to it.

The case for a strong legislation against tobacco use is indeed compelling not the least because it is harmful to health. It has been conclusively proven that tobacco use has direct causative relation to respiratory and heart diseases, and emphysema, a type of lung disease in the case of smoking, mouth and gum diseases in the case of chewing, and nose and related diseases in the case of snuffing. The addictive nature of tobacco use also fosters substance dependence.  Some records state that nearly five million people die every year of tobacco-linked diseases. Indirectly, second hand smoking endangers the health of non-smokers who must suffer the offensive effect of cigarette smoke in the environment and violates their fundamental right.

Time there was when smoking was fashionable and considered a ‘class thing’ such that to use tobacco whichever way was considered a sign of maturity. Indeed, a smoking aficionado would dedicate special ‘smoking rooms’ equipped with diverse paraphernalia – water pipes, lighters,  spittoons, ash trays, even smoking jackets,  smoking hats and slippers –  all designed to heighten the pleasure of the pastime.

Nevertheless, over the centuries, the negative effects of this ‘pastime’ have also for long been acknowledged, condemned, and legislated against by both spiritual and secular authorities.  In 1590, Pope Urban VII issued a papal bull against the use of tobacco “in the porch-way of, or inside the church, whether it be by chewing it, smoking it with a pipe or sniffing it in powdered form through the nose”.  King James I of England, in 1604, wrote in ‘A Counterblast to Tobacco’ a stinging – and perceptive – criticism of the habit of tobacco use describing it as “a custome loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black stinking fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrible Stigian smoke of the pit that is bottomless”.

Elsewhere, in the Ottoman empire,  Sultan Murad IV who ruled  1623- 1640  decreed smoking as a capital offence while in old Russia,  anyone caught smoking had his nose cut off. Obviously then anti-tobacco use sentiment is not a recent development. Unfortunately, in modern times, the tobacco industry has amassed a hefty war chest with which, for long and until recently, it lobbied  the powers that be in favour of its business.  But, under pressure in the increasingly health-conscious developed countries, it has shifted business and lobby to developing countries such as Nigeria.

Since 1999, the industry has enlarged its presence and operations in our country, complete with an effective marketing strategy and well-oiled public relations machinery that working hand in glove with government, plays up the benefits of job creation and economic contributions to the nation as worthwhile values added to Nigeria and its people.  But these justifications are of lesser value compared to the immense short and long-term costs to human and environmental health. It is gratifying that the Tobacco Control Bill is in its final stage despite the odds. However, how does government square the circle of allowing the tobacco industry to continue in business in the face of the coming law?

We would think that a nation of healthy citizens is of greater value to Nigeria than capital. We urge government to stand firm for the public good by enforcing the spirit and letter of this  pro-health legislation. We also suggest a steep ‘sin tax’ on tobacco  to make the habit increasingly too expensive to sustain. Such  revenue in turn should be spent to  run medical facilities  that treat  tobacco-generated  diseases.

More effort should also be devoted to public enlightenment campaigns on the risks of tobacco use.

SOURCE

Imperatives for a smoke free Nigeria

On March 15, 2011, the Senate had in a unanimous vote passed the National Tobacco Control bill which was sponsored by Senator Olorunimbe Mamora representing Lagos East Senatorial District. By this act, it is now a punishable offence to engaged in smoking in public places. The current bill is a comprehensive law providing for regulations of supply and demand measures of tobacco products. The bill was presented on the floor of the senate for second reading in February 2009 and a public hearing was conducted in July 2009 before its eventual passage. The National Tobacco Control Bill (NTCB) repeals the Tobacco Control smoking Act of 1990, which was promulgated under the military and championed by former Health Minister, late Olikoye Ransome Kuti.

Nigerians have waited patiently, for our constitutional and God given rights for a smoke free environment and protection of the weak and venerable in the society against second hand smoke, which the National Tobacco Control Bill is set to enforce. The Nigeria Senate has risen to protect public health and etched its name in gold under the leadership of Senator David Mark for passing the National tobacco control bill. The bill will ensure a reversal of increasing deaths.

The need to protect the non smoking public from the dangers associated with cigarette smoking makes it necessary for the enforcement of the ban of smoking in public places. There is overwhelming medical evidence that shows exposure to second hand smoke can cause diseases and death. Second hand smoking is a combination of the smoke which a smoker exhales and the one that comes out of the burning end of a cigarette.

Also known as the Environmental Tobacco Smoke (EST), it is a mixture of about 4,000 cancer causing chemicals that are extremely harmful to the body. It has been established that for every eight smokers who die, one innocent bystander also dies from second hand smoke and if one is exposed to second hand smoke for about 2 hours, then the person must have smoked an equivalent of four cigarettes. Second hand smoke is as deadly as the real tobacco smoke.

But we should not rest on our oars after this victory. This is just the beginning of the campaign for a totally smoke free Nigeria and the defense of the constitutional and God given rights to live in a safe environment. Massive media enlightenment campaign to inform residents about the enforcement of the provisions of this bill should begin now. Also, there is need to educate the Nigeria police to monitor compliance with the ban. But the greatest responsibility is on every resident of Nigeria to make sure that the law is strictly adhered to. To ensure our nation is completely smoke free, we must jointly monitor the implementation of the ban on smoking in public places.

A smoke free Nigeria will put public health above profits made from selling cigarettes. It will reduce the rate of smoking especially among the young and underage people. Smoke free public places will even make the environment clean and residents can breathe safe air. It will also help towards achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG), of having poverty halved by 2015, because money spent on tobacco product will be help provide food and shelters for families.

The bill is also an affirmation of commitment of Nigeria to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). It is an international tobacco control treaty developed by the World Health Organization (WHO). The treaty was built on the evidence from different country experiences which formed the recommendations in developing the FCTC. It requires all ratifying countries to adopt effectives smoke free policies. The FCTC has been ratified by over 150 countries including Nigeria.

Article 8 clearly states that "Each part shall adopt and implement in area of existing national jurisdiction as determined by national law and actively promote the adoption and implementation of effective legislative, executive, administration and/ or other measures providing for protection from exposure to tobacco smoke in indoor workplaces, public transport, indoor public places and as appropriate, other public places"

Everyone has the right to breathe clean air, free from the proven dangers of second hand smoke. Second hand smoke is a proven health hazard, not just a nuisance. Nigeria should go smoke free.

-Owoeye Akinsola

SOURCE

The tobacco control bill

As the elections inch closer, the Senate last week passed a bill that will eventually give Nigeria one of the strongest anti-tobacco laws on the continent. Sponsored by Olorunimbe Mamora, a senator (Lagos East) on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria, the bill is called the Nigerian Tobacco Control Bill.

It’s essential components include: raising a National Tobacco Control Committee to shape the future of tobacco control policies and guide implementation; A comprehensive ban on smoking in public places, and the sale of cigarettes by or to minors; and detailed specifications on points of sale notice. That is not all, however. The bill has finally given legal backing to a directive by the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) which a few years ago banned all sorts of advertisement, sponsorship, promotion, testimonials and brand stretching of tobacco products across the country.

The bill is also to ensure that health messages cover 50 per cent of the areas where tobacco products are to be displayed, while the minister of health is empowered to prescribe pictures or pictogram and ensure that the law is effectively implemented. As it is now, the bill has only been passed by the Senate. It is to be sent to the House of Representatives which will hopefully pass it before it goes to Goodluck Jonathan for his assent. We at NEXT do not expect the House to have any fundamental disagreement with the version that has been passed by the Senate.

The upper house had, in the two years the bill was with it, ensured that all the stakeholders – civil society groups, tobacco manufacturers, health experts and the general public – had their say at the public hearings that preceded the debates and the passing of the bill. Mainly, the Nigeria Tobacco Control bill domesticates the World Health Organisation (WHO) initiated Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The treaty is the first global health treaty which is mandatory on all WHO members. Nigeria has signed and ratified the treaty.

We commend this step by the Senate and plead with the House not to water down this laudable bill. Passing it into law could help this set of lawmakers become one of the most proactive to have passed through the hallowed chambers. It is a great contribution to public health. We make this appeal because we know that tobacco products have for several years wreaked havoc on our people. This is our opportunity to curb this terrible scourge.

A few years ago, some states like Lagos, Gombe, Kano and Oyo sued some tobacco companies, asking them to pay billions of naira for the damages their products had caused their citizens. For instance, Lagos sued for ₦2.7 trillion claiming that research carried out by its staff in hospitals across the state show that at least two people die daily owing to tobacco-related diseases; and that the state had recorded about 20 per cent increase in the smoking rate over the past two decades with reported cases of 9,527 tobacco-related diseases in government-run hospitals monthly, in one of Nigeria’s most populous states.

This is a high figure and a high price to pay for a disease with a cause that is known and preventable. And that is only for a state that has cared to carry out research on what it costs it to treat tobacco-related diseases.

We salute the doggedness of Mr. Mamora, the civil group Environmental Rights Action (ERA), the United States based Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids (CTFK), the media and other groups that fought for the enactment of this bill. However, the fight will not simply be over because the House and the President assented to it. Implementation of the clauses of the bill must be monitored and adhered to. Only then would it help our public health and protect us from the fatal tobacco-related diseases.

SOURCE