By Earl Moxam, Senior Gleaner WriterCARRERAS GROUP Limited, the major producer of cigarettes in Jamaica, is mounting a major offensive against moves by the health authorities to have a full ban on smoking in public places.
Jamaica is developing legislation on tobacco control in keeping with its obligations under
the May 21, 2003 World
Health Organisation Framework Convention.
Michael Bernard, general manager for the cigarette business in the Carreras Group, argued before the parliamentary committee for Human Resources and Social Development that over-regulating the tobacco industry could result in increased smuggling and counterfeiting operations.
A REDUCTION IN TAX REVENUES
This, in turn, would lead to a reduction in Government tax revenues, he said.
Figures provided by Carreras show that the company yielded tax revenues of $3.273 billion in 2003. This included a new intake of $734 million to finance the National Health Fund.
But he also said that his company was in agreement with several
provisions in the proposed legislation. These include a prohibition on sale of tobacco products to persons under 18 years; informing the public of the dangers associated with smoking; and restricting tobacco advertising to the boundaries set out in the Voluntary Code with Government.
He also argued against some of the "one size fits all" prescriptions in the Convention, such as the ban on smoking in all public places.
Patrick Smith, head of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs at Carreras, told a parliamentary committee that the company also needed time "to adjust our policies and operations to accommodate some of the potential legislation."
Like Bernard, however, he promised that Carreras would strongly resist some measures, such as the removal of advertising on billboards "and other areas where we can validate that there is a majority of adults receiving the communication."
The Group is also taking issue with claims made by the local health authorities and the WHO on the extent of the harmful effects of Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) on non-smokers.
Passive smoking, a term used to describe indirect exposure to cigarette smoke, has been cited by local and international health authorities as one cause of lung cancer, and was reiterated when officials of the Ministry of Health appeared before the parliamentary committee late last year.
But Mr. Bernard argued that there was no conclusive evidence to support some of the claims being made about the risk of short-term exposure to smoking in public spaces.
"Based on our assessment of the available science, we think that many of the claims against Environmental Tobacco Smoke have been overstated," he told the Committee. "We don't believe that it has been shown to cause chronic diseases such as lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease."
A RECENT SURVEY
He cited a recent survey, the Greater London Authority's March 2002 study on Smoking in Public Places, which concluded that research on the effects of short-term exposure to passive smoke in public places was inadequate, as in the case of someone who may go to a smoky pub or restaurant "a couple of times per week."
He also cited the United
States Environmental Protection Agency's 1993 report, which said that ETS was a cause of lung cancers in non-smokers, but which was heavily criticised by the U.S. Congressional Research Services and by a U.S. federal judge "who declared the finding invalid."
