CSM: policy conference on tobacco

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17, 1999 

Taking tobacco out of mouth of babes

Legislators and health officials from 30 countries meet in
Washington to combat teen smoking worldwide.

Ron Scherer 
Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

 Outside the General Vicente Guerrero
 secondary school in Mexico City, student
 Chieko Fukimori trades off kissing her notebook
 photo of Brad Pitt and puffing on her cigarette.

 "Everybody I hang around with smokes," says
 the teen, adding that it's something she's done
 since she was 11. "A lot of times we pool our
 money, buy a pack, and share the cigarettes."

Is there any way to stop children like Chieko from smoking?

So far, the answer has been no. In most countries, smoking continues
to rise, with 1.1 billion people lighting up - roughly the equivalent of
the population of China. In the US, smoking among high school
students increased from 28 percent in 1991 to 36 percent in 1997. By
2025, health experts say there will be 1.6 billion smokers worldwide -
a significant number of them teens.

Now for the first time, legislators and health officials from 30 countries
will meet in Washington today to discuss how to keep the world's
children from smoking. They will discuss warning labels, taxes, and
limits on advertising. They will compare tobacco company marketing
programs. In short, it will bring together policymakers for a global
smoke-out session.

"The idea is that the people who make the laws never talk to each
other about tobacco and kids," says Bill Novelli, the head of The
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the Washington lobbying
organization, which is organizing the conference.

Among the stories that the 45 delegates will hear:

 How Australia has banned smoking sponsorship for most
 sporting events and replaced that sponsorship with funds raised
 from taxing tobacco.

 Canada now requires a public-health warning on the top third
 of a cigarette pack on both front and back. The warnings
 include "Smoking is addictive" and "Smoking can kill."

 South Africa's legislature recently passed legislation with steep
 prohibitions on marketing and advertising cigarettes. In the law
 is a provision that allows the minister of health to regulate
 harmful tobacco emissions. It's going through another rewrite to
 avoid a constitutional challenge.

Some success worldwide

Antismoking advocates say that globally there have been remarkable
success stories. Poland, for example, saw smoking decline 9 percent
after mandating stronger health-warning labels.

 Many countries have raised their taxes
 significantly. In Great Britain, a recent tax hike
 raised the cost of cigarettes to $6 per pack.
 "There have been some tremendous successes
 overseas, and this conference is not for
 Americans to tell others how to do things," says
 John Bloom, a Washington-based consultant on
 tobacco policy issues.

 The tobacco industry considers the conference
 an international bash-fest. "I think it's more a
 publicity stunt than anything else," says Scott
 Williams, a Washington-based spokesman for
 the industry. "If they want to get kids to stop
 smoking, why haven't they invited anyone from
 the industry?" 

 Replies Mr. Novelli, "Right after the conference
 we would be happy to meet with the industry to
 tell them how they could protect kids."

Philip Morris says it supports minimum-age purchase laws around the
world. "We have over 100 different programs around the world in
either youth-access prevention or general-education programs," says
Elizabeth Cho, a spokeswoman for Philip Morris International in New
York.

Some government-mandated efforts aimed at children seem relatively
ineffective. In Mexico, for example, before a Pall Mall TV ad
(allowed after 9:30 p.m.), a male voice intones, "Discourage children
from smoking."

But experts estimate that more than 1 million Mexican smokers are
under 18 - the legal age for buying cigarettes. Authorities point to the
country's antismoking campaigns and efforts in the schools as signs the
government takes tobacco abuse seriously. But the Mexican tobacco
industry spends 11 billion pesos on advertising - 500 pesos for every
one spent on prevention and treatment.

Youth smoking in China is even more startling. According to Judith
Mackay, director of the Asian Consultancy on Tobacco Control in
Hong Kong, smokers are getting younger. Some 10 percent of the
population smokes by age 15. This increases to 29.3 percent by age
20. Since few women smoke, this means 50 percent of Chinese males
light up before they're 20.

Toddlers taking a puff

Ms. Mackay has seen children as young as 3 or 4 smoking. "It is
considered cute for a grandfather to give his young grandchildren a
cigarette," she says. "The problem is that they don't know smoking is
bad," she says.

In 1991, the Chinese government began phasing in bans on broadcast
advertising for cigarettes. Hu Peijin, a spokeswoman for the Chinese
Patriotic Health Campaign, says China's recent laws are aimed "at
dissuading all teenagers from smoking and are especially targeted at
primary and middle school students."

Sen. Richard Durbin (D) of Illinois, who came up with the idea for the
conference, says companies know sales to children are increasing
dramatically around the world. "There are ways for them to stop that,
but they refuse, so I am skeptical of their denials," he says.

As evidence, at a press conference Senator Durbin produced a
toddler's playsuit from Senegal with a Marlboro logo. "The clothing
can only be worn by tiny children, and you are thinking, 'Why in the
world would they do this?'" 

Ms. Cho says the playsuit was an unauthorized use of the trademark
and is being investigated.

After the Children & Tobacco conference ends, Novelli hopes the
group continues to meet. He expects ideas from this meeting to flow
into the next year's world conference on smoking in Chicago. "If we
can keep it together, we can make a difference in the long term," he
says.

 Howard LaFranchi in Mexico City and Kevin Platt in Beijing
contributed to this report.

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 For further information:

 Action on Smoking and Health Teen Page 
 Kickbutt.org International Tobacco Site Center 
 How Parents Can Stop Teen Smoking 
 Beat Their Butts Anti-smoking Interactive Series 


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