By Eulalee Thompson, Staff Reporter 
Tobacco's effects
It has been shown in some countries that about 90 per cent of all lung cancers are caused by cigarette smoking and about 30 to 50 per cent of deaths from heart disease and strokes are attributable to cigarette smoking. Tobacco is believed to be a co-factor for many other cancers and conditions affecting other parts of the body.
Tobacco consumption is a major preventable cause of death in the world.
It is estimated that over four million deaths annually are caused by tobacco consumption (mainly in the form of cigarette smoking).
Second-hand smoke is one of the most significant sources of pollution in indoor environments. Exposure to second-hand smoke causes ear infections, bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (crib death).
- Pan American Health Organisation & Ministry of Health, Jamaica.
BEFORE MAY ends, the tobacco industry should begin to feel much more suffocated as its longstanding challenger the World Health Organisation further tightens its noose around the industry's neck.
The latest effort will be the adoption of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), an international legal instrument that will bind the 191 WHO member states to act in certain ways regarding tobacco advertising and promotion, agricultural diversification, smuggling and subsidies. The intention is to back into a corner, an industry which health officials consider as one of the major public health enemies.
The FCTC working group, which has been meeting since October 1999, has been considering a number of provisions such as the elimination of sales to and by young persons; packaging and labelling; advertising, promotion and sponsorship; price and tax measures to reduce the demand for tobacco; government support for tobacco manufacturing and agriculture and illicit trade in tobacco products.
The passage of the document may not be a smooth one as Dr. Eva Lewis-Fuller, the Health Ministry's director of international health, who headed Jamaica's delegation to the final intergovernmental negotiating meeting in February, said that there were some contentious matters in the 38-article FCTC document and opposition is coming from some major players such as the United States of America.
She said that article 13 on tobacco advertising,
promotion and sponsorship, was perhaps the most contentious of all as while most countries favoured an unequivocal ban on all advertising, others were claiming that a ban would be in violation of their constitutions.
"Finally the term 'comprehensive ban' was used as the first option, implying that the ban would be within the bounds of practicality, addressing advertising that targets the public but not including the communication and promotions that take place between manufacturers of tobacco products and their wholesalers or
retailers," Dr. Fuller said.
Jamaica, she stressed, is supportive of the position taken by the treaty which is for a total ban on advertising. Currently though, the local ban on tobacco advertising only affects the electronic media and cinemas.
Another contentious article was the one on the packaging and labelling of tobacco products. This article speaks to the use of false, misleading or deceptive labelling. The treaty doesn't look kindly on terms such as "low tar", "light", "ultra-light" or "mild"; it also asks for clear, visible and legible health warnings.
But while all this action is being contemplated against the tobacco industry, it cannot be denied that some economies rely on the industry for revenues. There are even broad implications for Jamaica, for example, as the excise duty on cigarettes were recently increased to generate funds for the National Health Fund (NHF). However, Dr. Lewis-Fuller said that taxation is actually one of the strategies by the WHO to reduce consumption of cigarettes over time.
She said that an economic analysis is being conducted to compile information on the impact of industry on the country. Health officials would like to translate for instance, health effects into dollars.
"For example, the data indicate that one-third of heart disease and strokes can be attributed to tobacco stroke and that it directly causes 90 per cent of lung cancer, we would like to translate this into dollars," Dr. Lewis-Fuller said.
