[Intl-tobacco] Time Asia: Taking on Tobacco / Asia starts kicking some butts (fwd)

[Robert Weissman]

Taking  on Tobacco / Asia  starts kicking some butts
OCTOBER 9, 2000 VOL. 156 NO. 14
by DONALD MACINTYRE
Source: Time Asia, Monday, 10/2/00

When Thailand's anti-tobacco  activists launched their first campaign to ge=
t=20
citizens to kick the habit,  they targeted the temples. Buddhism forbids cl=
ergy=20
from using intoxicants,  but monks had never considered nicotine a drug. Th=
ey=20
were community leaders,  however=97if they could be persuaded to quit, the=
=20
activists figured,  others might follow. Not all gave up their smokes=97one=
=20
prominent monk  kept puffing until he suffered a massive heart attack last=
=20
year. But attitudes  are clearly starting to change. These days when local=
=20
cable channels air  The Sopranos, a U.S. TV drama about a New Jersey Mafia=
=20
family, censors  don't block any of the violence or foul language. But ever=
y=20
time the characters  light up, a mosaic of fuzzy squares blocks their faces=
=97and=20
the offending  cigarettes=97from view.=20

Although the Japanese are still puffing away madly, the rest of Asia is
starting to respond to mounting public concern over the dangers of
smoking.  Taiwan plans to add more muscle to a 1997 tobacco-control law
that includes mandatory health warnings on tobacco products. Malaysia is
considering an outright ban on tobacco advertising. From Mongolia to Hong
Kong, laws are getting tougher. The view that Asia is the last great open
market for Big Tobacco is no longer quite accurate. Singapore and Thailand
have some of the toughest smoking-control laws in the world. Even in
China, the world's biggest cigarette producer and home to 500 million
smokers, the gray pall is starting to clear a little. "There has been a
sea change in Asia," says Judith Mackay, senior policy adviser to the
World Health Organization. "The message is that developing countries can
tackle this epidemic as well as, if not better than, the West."

The grassroots push has been most impressive in Thailand. In the late
1980s, Philip Morris and other big U.S. tobacco companies tried to pry
open the country's then-closed domestic market, enlisting Washington to
threaten sanctions. Local activists quickly banded together with American
and other anti-tobacco groups to fight back. In the end, Thailand did open
its market but also drafted its tough anti-smoking code to head off an
expected blitz of high-powered, American-style advertising. Resistance to
foreign cigarettes helped to spur similar movements in Taiwan, Mongolia
and many other parts of the region. At the same time, governments have
started to wake up to the enormous health costs of tobacco.

There are still some Asian laggards. The Philippines doesn't even bar
minors from smoking. Manila does ban smoking in public, but President
Joseph Estrada regularly violates the rule. In Indonesia, smoking jumped
44% between 1990 and 1997, according to the World Bank. The reason? Lack
of government will and powerful cigarette lobbies, both domestic and
foreign.

It would be premature to count Big Tobacco out. American companies
increasingly
 target Asian women, who smoke in much smaller numbers than men. Underage
smoking is still on the rise in many Asian countries. But the tide may be
turning. Smoking rates are actually falling in some countries, mostly
among adult males. Whether guided by monks or not, more and more Asians
are heading for the healthier path.

D.M., with reporting by Robert Horn/Bangkok, Wendy Kan/Hong Kong,
Ramakrishnan Mageswary/Malaysia, Cybil Chou/Taipei, Nelly Sindayen/Manila
and Jason Tedjasukmana/Jakarta

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