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SA Tobacco Restrictions Will Help Economy Say Health Groups (fwd)
Business Day (South Africa)
10 September 1998
Bill 'will keep young
people from smoking'
Primarashni Pillay
THE tobacco industry's main contribution to SA's
economy was not jobs and wealth but increased health
costs and lost productivity, Yussuf Saloojee, executive
director of the National Council Against Smoking, said
yesterday.
Saloojee said more working days were lost in SA as a
result of absenteeism caused by smoking-related
diseases than from strikes.
Saloojee was commenting on the Tobacco Products
Amendment Bill which calls for the prohibition of
advertising and promotion of tobacco products and the
banning the sale of cigarettes to children under the age of
16. He said the bill would reduce the pressure on young
people to begin a lifelong addiction to tobacco as
"children are a key market for the tobacco industry".
He explained tobacco industry marketing documents
released during court trials in the US revealed members
of the industry are experts on when, how and why
children smoke.
The industry's internal marketing documents revealed
"the high school student is the base of their business".
Saloojee said in Norway, Finland, New Zealand and
France cigarette sales decreased by between 14% and
37% from the year advertising was totally banned up to
1996.
He said while the SA tobacco industry spent R240m a
year on advertising and promotions, it claimed it did not
influence adults or children to smoke. The industry also
said the banning of advertising and promotions would not
reduce tobacco consumption but that thousands of jobs
would be lost as a result.
Saloojee said the number of tobacco farmers in SA had
declined and would continue to decline even if health
legislation was not enacted.
"The main reason for job losses in tobacco growing are
the activities of the cigarette manufacturers and not
actions by health groups." Money not spent on cigarettes
would be spent on other goods and services, thereby
creating new jobs.
Saloojee said government's revenue from tobacco taxes
had increased in recent years from about R1,7bn to
about R3,7bn "which was good for government but
resulted in health losses in treating diseases related to
smoking".
Prof Harry Seftel, chairman of the National Council
Against Smoking, said tobacco companies' sponsorship
of sport was "the work of the devil" as sport was related
to health while smoking was related to death and
disease.
SA Medical Association health care executive Loyiso
Mpuntsha stressed that "non-smokers subsidise smokers
for public health services by sharing these facilities.
Simple actuarial sense would require smokers to pay
higher premiums for health services, commensurate with
their added burden of disease and risk to the depletion of
health budgets".
HEALTH-TOBACCO
TOBACCO RESTRICTIONS WILL BENEFIT ECONOMY: HEALTH AUTHORITIES
JOHANNESBURG September 9 1998 Sapa
Health authorities on Wednesday rejected claims by the tobacco industry
that restrictions on smoking would
have a detrimental effect on the country's economy.
At a joint press conference in Johannesburg, the SA Medical
Association, Democratic Nurses' Union and the
Tobacco Action Group (Tag) said restrictions proposed by the Tobacco
Products Control Amendment Bill
would lower government health costs and increase productivity.
Tag spokesman Dr Yusuf Saloojee said the South African tobacco industry
had declined steadily from 1950 as
a result of its inability to compete in international markets, despite
an increase in consumption of tobacco.
"The reason for the decline is not the anti-smoking lobby, but the
South African farmers' inability to compete
with their colleagues in Zimbabwe and Malawi, who offer a better
quality and cheaper tobacco leaf," he said.
He said cigarette manufactures would buy tobacco wherever it was cheaper.
"The main contribution of tobacco to our economy is not jobs and
wealth, but increased health costs and lost
productivity. More working days are lost to South African industry each
year due to absenteeism caused by
smoking-related diseases than from strikes."
Saloojee said a projection by the Univerity of Cape Town found that a
restriction on tobacco could in fact lead
to the creation of about 50,000 jobs.
"Money not spent on cigarettes will still be spent, but on other goods
and services, thereby creating new jobs,"
he said.
The effects of tobacco restrictions would not be felt for many years,
but should hopefully prevent cigarette
manufacturers from targeting children as a future market, he said.
Saloojee said it was important to remember that the government intended
to restrict, and not ban smoking.
SA Medical Association spokeswoman Dr Loyiso Mpuntsha said tobacco was
a major cause of heart disease,
strokes, cancer and emphysema.
The World Health Association estimated that at least 20 percent of
deaths caused by tobacco-related illnesses
were in developing countries.
Professory Harry Seftel of Wits medical school said the targeting of
developing countries by cigarette
manufacturers could only be described as "evil".
"Developing countries are still battling with tuberculosis and
malnutrition, and now we have the added cost of
tobacco related illnesses."
Seftel said recent court cases involving the tobacco industry in the
United States revealed that the industry was
well aware of the health risk presented by cigarettes.
He said there was also evidence that the industry specifically targeted
the youth.
"They deliberately suppressed the information, and then they come here
and talk about freedom of speech," he
said.
The tobacco industry argues that a ban on tobacco advertising will be
an attack on freedom of speech.
Tag, which consists of the Heart Foundation of SA, the National Council
Against Smoking and the Cancer
Association of SA, argues that a child's right to protection overrides
the right of industry to freedom of speech.
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source: gopher://gopher.anc.org.za/00/anc/newsbrief/1998/news0910