Kenya Mulls Tough Tobacco Laws (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

Tough Laws Expected on Kenyan Tobacco
Firms

November 23, 1998

Xinhua via NewsEdge Corporation
NAIROBI (Nov. 22) XINHUA - Tobacco companies in
Kenya will soon have to comply with a
tougher regulatory legislation,
Attorney-General Amos Wako has warned. 

In collaboration with the Ministry of Health,
new laws will soon come out to monitor and
regulate the presence of harmful
constituents contained in tobacco products,
Wako was quoted by Sunday's Daily Nation
as saying. 

Under the laws, "the government intends to
go beyond merely carrying the warning that
'Smoking is harmful to your health,' it will now
require provision of a list of the harmful
constituents contained or generated in the
smoke of the product and their respective
quantities," Wako said on Saturday. 

The upcoming legislation will also regulate
marketing and advertizing of tobacco
products and prohibit smoking in cinemas,
theaters, public transport, hospitals and
other specified buildings, he added. 

However, he assured those in the tobacco
industry that the laws are not meant to drive
them out of business, urging them to
positively participate in the legislation. 

He made the remarks at the British American
Tobacco (BAT) Kenya's 1998 annual long
service award-giving ceremony in Nairobi. 

[Copyright 1998, Comtex]