by Touria PRAYAG

The recent action taken by the ministry of Health to try and restrict the places open to smokers is a laudable but shy action. When it comes to tobacco worldwide, legislation has achieved what negotiation will never do. Enforcing the law is, therefore, a welcome solution and in line with the world trend. However, it is inefficient to develop isolated actions without a larger campaign aiming at the real problem. Smoking caused an estimated 4.9 million premature deaths in 2000 and this number will probably grow to more than 9 million deaths a year by 2020.

But this is no news. In today?s debate, the number of deaths due to smoking and the incidence of tobacco-related diseases are of little relevance. Educated people are informed. Even British American Tobacco (BAT) has launched a pamphlet ?informing? people of the major health risks of smoking. The cynics might say it is a harmless PR exercise unlikely to make a dent in the sales figures. Telling us what we know is telling us nothing new and therefore nothing at all. If I were more cynical, I might even be inclined to think that ?information? like «Smoking is a choice that only an adult aware of the risks can make» could be a good marketing technique. ?Smoking is a manly habit involving a lot of risks, therefore?..?

But I am not cynical and I agree that it is a question of choice and I am all for choice: the choice of every adult to make an informed decision concerning their own body. Implicit in this choice is other people?s right to choose to increase the probability of dying at a later stage and some other way than through lung cancer. This is why measures to restrict smoking to open areas should not be regarded as unfair to anyone. Where I have a problem is that these measures are not targeting or even identifying the real problems.

Smoking is attracting younger and younger children. A minor cannot make an informed decision. When he becomes an adult, it is too late. Tobacco control, not just the protection of passive smokers, should be at the top of the government?s agenda. Schools, NGOs and religious groups should join in aggressive campaigns to dissuade youngsters from starting. Nicotine addiction has historically been one of the hardest addictions to break. We are not saying this enough. We are not saying it at all. The sale of cigarettes should be regulated and strong sanctions taken against those selling to minors.

Another important agenda item is to change the attitudes to tobacco: smoking is neither glamorous nor sophisticated. Campaigners should work at the grass roots to shift the focus of youngsters to healthy, sporting and health-conscious role models.

The tobacco industry is targeting middle income countries as cigarette smoking is declining in the West. We must adopt strong measures to subvert this. Our advertising industry should join in the fight through a nationwide campaign aimed, not at ostracizing smokers and concentrating on the health of non-smokers only, but at creating awareness of the devastating effects of the first cigarette.

The Tobacco Industry should lie low for a while. The show of sympathy for the poor by BAT, La BAT fait du social (l?express Dec 9th), quite honestly leaves me cold. If BAT wants to help 200 needy people because it makes it feel better about the hundreds of ruined families, the thousands of orphaned children and the millions of rupees incurred by our health system, it should do so quietly and without media coverage.

We cannot be too dispassionate about this: we may be smokers, ex-smokers or anti-smoking. We may have friends working in tobacco firms. We have as much respect for those who produce or sell cigarettes as for anyone else making an honest living. However, the tobacco industry is not our friend. It is not our children?s friend. It has never been nor should it ever be. It is not out there for our well-being. Its PR exercises worldwide should not lull us into silence while it is promoting death.