The government has begun dialogue on the World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which it signed on to in June 2004, with a possibility of banning the use of tobacco in public places.
Minister of Health and Environment, Senator Dr Marcus Bethel, has cautioned, however, that there will be those who would put up strong resistance as they have an economic interest in the matter.
He was speaking at the Ministry of Health on Wednesday morning, at a summit called to review the framework and discuss the importance of smoke-free environments.
“I plead with you to use the time to deliberate and to seek advice and input from our international experts and learn what other countries are doing or have done or what would be the obligations of The Bahamas in ratifying the framework. We will need to have a national consensus and understanding that this is in our interest, our health’s interest and the country’s interest, because there will be other parties who have an economic interest to protect.
“We need to be sure as we move along the pathway that we are clear in our commitment and convinced that we are doing what is right for our country in the future,” Minister Bethel warned.
The World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) entered into force on Feb. 27 of this year, and already 58 countries, representing 2.3 billion people, have signed on to the Convention. Now, with it’s entry into force, countries party to the WHO-FCTC are duty bound to translate its general provisions into national laws and regulations designed to control tobacco use and save lives.
These countries will have three years from the day the Convention enters into force to implement measures to ensure that tobacco packaging has strong health warnings, or five years to impose comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship bans, among other practices.
According to Minister Bethel, tobacco is the second leading cause of death globally, causing nearly five million deaths a year. He said estimates show that it will prematurely kill 10 million people a year by 2020, if current trends are not reversed. Interestingly, the minister noted, tobacco is the only legal product that causes the death of half of its regular users. He added that evidence shows that smoking harms nearly every organ of the body, with tobacco use being the cause of the majority of lung cancer cases, and it has been linked to cervical and kidney cancer.
Other health risks include heart attacks, strokes, cardiovascular diseases, bronchitis, asthma and other respiratory diseases as well as infertility.
Despite this, he said, tobacco use continues to increase, especially in the developing world, where half of the tobacco-related deaths occur.
It is believed that by 2020, if current trends continue, seven out of every ten deaths due to tobacco useeach year will occur in the developing world.
“The evidence is clear in respect of global health outcomes if we do nothing. Our mandate is to act wisely and proceed in harmony with our national objectives and economy. Evidence-based decision-making is imperative; anecdotal and emotive rhetoric is dangerous and should be discouraged. Public awareness and education must be the cornerstone of our efforts, and national consensus must influence our actions,” Minister Bethel explained.
Accordingly, acting Pan American Health Organisation and World Health Organisation representative to The Bahamas, David Taylor, warned that tobacco control requires an approach that embraces the global, national and personal levels.
He said global action is necessary if the burden of diseases caused by smoking and passive smoking are not to be simply transferred from the developed to the developing world along with other lifestyle-related conditions. It is estimated in the Americas at least one million people die annually from smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke.
“Initiatives at the global and national levels which can provide ‘smoke free’ environments for living and working are very important, but are not ends in themselves unless they influence personal behaviour. The true measure of success will not be the introduction of tobacco controls and the creation of smoke free areas, but it will be a world where tobacco use is no longer practiced and the burden of diseases caused by smoking will be reduced to nothing,” he said.
Dr Heather Selin, advisor on Tobacco Control (PAHO), Washington, said tobacco use kills people in the most productive years of their lives, leaving families without incomes.
Dr Selin said tobacco use is one of two global epidemics that is increasing, with the other being HIV/AIDS. Already there are more deaths from tobacco use in the developing world than in the developed world, and this will only increase as time passes. She informed that tobacco use is the second most frequent cause of death around the world and is number four in terms of risk factors for disease.
By KEVA LIGHTBOURNE, Guardian Staff Reporter
