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Ban smoking in public places
2006-05-18 09:03:29
By Editor
A Damning report by an influential British NGO has accused cigarette manufacturing multinational giants of using methods that are illegal in UK and European Union to promote tobacco products in the East African region.
The giants are also accused of manipulating local politicians to defeat the enactment of effective tobacco control legislations.
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) accuses governments in the region for not doing enough to protect the environment and the citizens by enacting legislations that would restrict and control the cultivation, sell and consumption of tobacco.
The release of the report also coincided with a neighbouring government’s ban of smoking in public places in order to protect non-smokers from the harmful effects of tobacco.
Our contention is that even after the fourth phase government unveiled a new zeal and policy to salvage the entire environment from destruction, little attention has been given to the dangers of uncontrolled smoking especially to non-smokers and to the entire environment.
It is worth noting that Tanzania has already signed the World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which broadly calls on governments to take measures that would protect the public from the dangers posed by tobacco.
Therefore, the government is duty bound to incorporate the Convention in the country’s laws.
The government ought to take deliberate action to protect innocent members of the public, especially children and youth from the devastating effects of tobacco.
As partner states, East African Community countries ought to work jointly on this issue.
The ban in a neighbouring country, like elsewhere in the world, includes office blocks, workplaces, court buildings, education institutions, residential areas, places of worship, police stations, prisons, markets, malls, cinema and theatre, children’s homes and playing field.
This is a bold move worth emulating by our government and the entire region, for the sake of protecting the environment and the estimated 90 million inhabitants of the East African Community.
It is apparent that the cost of consuming tobacco products is enormous to the economies. Millions of deaths annually are attributed to the practice.
Medical bills for those afflicted with the practice run into billions of dollars annually. Indeed, no responsive government can afford to ignore this.
Ailments resulting from smoking range from diverse forms of cancer, respiratory defects and infections, cardiovascular illness and psychotic disorders among myriad of other ailments.
Most afflicted, experts say are the passive smokers (non-smokers) who involuntarily have no option but inhale toxic-containing smoking from the active smokers.
The scenario is even worse with a lacuna in restrictive laws to safeguard them. The passive smokers include spouses of smokers and children.
There is also the social malaise that manifest in juvenile delinquent for the youth who smoke due to peer influence.
Besides, cultivation of tobacco has a heavy toll on the environment considering the highly toxic chemicals and fertiliser used.
The curing of the leaves emits enormous amount of ozone depleting substances.
In some places, tobacco cultivation has left wasteland in the place of previously fertile lands. Tobacco has been linked to worsening food security.
As we advocate for affirmative action, we appreciate the fact that tobacco products manufacturers’ are among the leading tax remitters to the government and there are also farmers who eke a living out of cultivating the cash crop.
In fact, our prescription is not a blanket ban of tobacco consumption, but enactment of legislation that would legitimise restriction on smoking, advertisement and cultivation of the crop.
This, we affirm, is a prerequisite in environmental protection and securing a healthy life for the non-smokers and a sustainable environment.
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