Benizri unveils plan to reduce smoking (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

Benizri unveils plan to reduce smoking

by JUDY SIEGEL       
ISRAEL;BANS
Date: Friday, 4/30/99

JERUSALEM (April 30) - Deputy Health Minister MK Shlomo Benizri, who wants
to be health minister in the next government, yesterday unveiled what he
called a "revolutionary plan" to reduce the proportion of smokers from 28%
to 20% in four years.He proposed legislation to bar all tobacco
advertising, prevent manufacturers from putting addictive nicotine and
addiction-enhancing ammonia in cigarettes and include smoking-cessation
courses in the basket of health services. 

Benizri said he was inspired by Shas Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who has issued a
halachic ruling against smoking and ordered the party newspaper, Yom
Le'Yom, to stop advertising cigarettes. 

Benizri chief aide Amos Danieli was surprised to hear that half-a-dozen
staffers of the newspaper still smoke in its offices. 

Health Minister Yehoshua Matza "has not been a supporter of these
actions," he said. 

It was the minister's failure this week to sign a document stating
government support of a private members' bill by MKs Amnon Rubinstein and
Tamar Gozansky to limit tobacco advertising in computer programs,
videotapes and company sponsorships of cultural and sports events, said
Danieli, that led to its failure to reach the plenum for its second and
third reading. 

The minister's office commented that Matza wanted to approve the
legislation only after he received the final version, and that it was now
"too late" to push it through because of the Knesset recess. 

Benizri's program also calls for a state suit against the tobacco
companies for the vast cost to the public health system. Such an
initiative has floundered in the Health and Justice Ministries for over a
year. 

He demanded strict enforcement against smoking in the workplace and an
information campaign among teenagers on the dangers of smoking. 

Tobacco directly causes 6,000 deaths in Israel each year - 10 times the
road accident toll, he said. 

Benizri added that "politicians have to struggle against great economic
pressures from the tobacco companies" and promised to forge an alliance
among MKs from all the parties to fight for anti-tobacco legislation.