[Intl-tobacco] Kenya debates tobacco bill that aims to reduce smoking-related disease (fwd)

[Robert Weissman]

Kenya debates tobacco bill that aims to reduce smoking-related disease
Volume 357, Number 9262     07 April 2001
by Samuel Siringi
Source: The Lancet, Saturday, 4/7/01

Kenya's tobacco players gathered in Nairobi on March 26 to discuss a
crucial tobacco bill that aims to regulate consumption of tobacco
products. Tempers flared at the meeting as tobacco industry supporters
urged the government to put the bill on hold "as it will drastically hurt
the industry and economy".

The meeting, organised by Kenya's Ministry of Health, tried to collate
views on the bill before a final draft is debated in parliament. As
expected the tobacco companies, farmers, religious groups, health and
non-governmental organisations hold widely differing views over what the
draft bill should contain.

If the bill becomes law, smokers will be banned from buying single
cigarettes and would have to buy whole packets, which contain 20
cigarettes. This policy is actually designed to discourage Kenyans from
smoking because few people will be able to afford "bulk" purchases.

Advertisements will also be restricted to media outlets that are only
accessible to adults. This means that advertisements via newspapers,
radio, and television would be banned. The bill states that only
subscription-based publications should be allowed to advertise tobacco
products. However cigarette firms have wondered how this approach would be
regulated.

At the meeting, the anti-bill group, led by cigarette firms, such as
British American Tobacco, Mastermind, and Cut Tobacco, criticised the
draft, saying that it will lead to a further economic slump.

However staunch supporters of the bill, such as the Kenya Medical
Association (KMA) urged the government to ignore the tobacco industry and
adopt the draft in its entirety. KMA's tobacco control committee chairman,
Charles Maringo, said tobacco use was a major cause of illness and
premature death in the world, and this trend needed to be reversed.

There are 5 million smokers in Kenya who are more than 15-years- old. This
number is expected to increase if control measures are not put in place,
note supporters of the bill. The average consumption of cigarettes per
Kenyan adult has increased from 379 cigarettes per year in 1965 to 625
cigarettes per year in 1999, which represents a 60·5% increase.

If the bill is passed it also seems that the tobacco industry will be
excluded from a tobacco board, which has been proposed in the bill.
However the legitimacy of the board could be challenged in court because
it will probably duplicate the role of the Kenya Bureau of Standards,
which is entrusted with monitoring consumer products.