[Intl-tobacco] Industry opposition thwarts ministry plan to cut smoking (fwd)

[Robert Weissman]

Industry opposition thwarts ministry plan to cut smoking
Source:  Yomiuri Shimbun., Wednesday, 1/26/00

The Health and Welfare Ministry's antismoking policy that aims to halve
the number of smokers by 2010 seems unlikely to be launched this month as
scheduled due to resistance from industry groups and a Liberal Democratic
Party committee, ministry sources said.

The ministry on Tuesday briefed the panel, comprising physicians and
health and hygiene specialists, established to develop the policy, about
the new development, and requested that the plan be reviewed, the sources
said.

According to a draft of the policy, which was announced last year, the
number of smoking-related disorders, including lung cancer, is soaring and
that the number of deaths annually from such disorders has reached 95,000.

The ministry, therefore, announced in the draft that it would seek to
halve the number of smokers aged 20 or older--52.8 percent of the male
population and 13.4 percent of the female population, according to a 1998
survey.

In response, a special committee on the tobacco and salt industries under
the LDP's Policy Research Council criticized the draft in a resolution it
submitted to the health and welfare minister in November.

"It is inappropriate under the Constitution if a government office set a
numerical target and attempts to alter adults freedom of choice," the
resolution said. "Such a move will have a grave impact on the tobacco
industry."

The content of the resolution was almost identical to that of a petition
presented earlier to the minister jointly by Japan Tobacco Inc. and
organizations of tobacco farmers and other related industries. More than
50,000 were contained in the petition.

During the Tuesday meeting, many panel members expressed opinions such as
"The detrimental effects of smoking are now universally understood" and
"The policy will pose no problem as it will only provide information.
Adult consumers will still have the freedom to make a choice based on the
available information."