[Intl-tobacco] Japanese smokers pursue the Government in anti-tobacco case

[robert.weissman@essentialinformation.org]

Australian Broadcasting Corporation
TV PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT
LOCATION: http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2004/s1126678.htm
Broadcast: 08/06/2004

Japanese smokers pursue the Government in anti-tobacco case
Reporter:

TONY JONES: As tobacco consumption declines in the developed world, there's
one country that still stands out from the pack - Japan.
And its nicotine addiction has official backing.
The Japanese Government also happens to be the majority shareholder in one
of the world's largest tobacco companies.
But Japan is finally getting serious about smoking.
And six former smokers, all with life-threatening diseases, are pursuing the
Government through the courts, in Japan's first major anti-tobacco case.
The ABC's Japan correspondent, Mark Simkin, reports.
MARK SIMKIN: Matao Yamamoto man has been told he has only one year to live.
He wants to spend it continuing a battle with the Government and tobacco
industry.
It's Japan's first big anti-smoking case and it has serious implications for
public health and government policy.
MATAO YAMAMOTO, PLAINTIFF: It is only in Japan that the Government sells
poison, tobacco, and tells people it's OK.
There is no other country like this.
They are thinking about profit, not people's health.
They are merchants of death.
MARK SIMKIN: Yamamoto San started smoking when he was 13.
At one time he was puffing 60 cigarettes a day.
Now, this former taxi driver has emphysema, he wants compensation and more
restrictions placed on tobacco.
He faces an uphill battle.
Nearly 50 per cent of Japanese men smoke, thought to be the highest rate in
the industrialised world.
The number of adult smokers is declining, but young smokers are on the
increase.
Traditionally there have been few restrictions and there's a very good
reason why.
The government owns a majority stake in the world's third largest cigarette
company, Japan Tobacco.
The more people smoke, the better the Government's return.
YOSHIRO ISAYAMA, LAWYER: There is a law called the Tobacco Business Law.
It instructs the government of the day to get rich by selling tobacco.
This is unprecedented in the world.
The government has taken a deliberate policy to increase cigarette sales.
MARK SIMKIN: Yoshiro Isayama is a lawyer handling Yamamoto's case.
It's relatively rare for individuals to take on the Government like this.
The court rejected their first suit, the plaintiffs are now appealing.
YOSHIRO ISAYAMA: There were many problems with the judgment.
The court said nicotine had a low level of addictiveness.
It said a smoker could give up any time and it did not even admit that there
was a relationship between smoking and lung cancer.
I felt as if we had got in a time machine and gone back 40 or 50 years.
Just before the court gave its decision, after 4.5 years of trial, the chief
judge was changed.
A non-smoker was replaced with a smoker.
I am very suspicious.
MARK SIMKIN: Japan has a growing underage smoking problem and this is a key
reason why.
There are 620,000 cigarette vending machines nationwide, including several
inside the Health Ministry.
A packet of cigarettes costs around one-third of what it would in Australia
and there are differences in the health warnings, too.
Instead of saying something like "Smoking kills," it reads, "Please try to
remember good smoking manners."
And because there's a risk of damage to your health, "try not to overdo it."
But things are changing in this smokers' paradise.
Slowly.
Quite a few companies have banned smoking in the workplace.
One suburb in Tokyo has begun fining people who smoke on the street, forcing
Japan Tobacco to set up this special puffing zone.
Japan is in the process of ratifying the world's first global tobacco
control treaty and the Government says it will usher in the most
comprehensive health reforms in a century.
Amongst other things, the size and wording of packet health warnings will be
improved.
The critics say none of the changes go far enough.
ATSUKO SASAKI, TOKYO EISEI HOSPITAL: When it comes to tobacco, Japan is
really an undeveloped country.
We have passed certain laws to protect people from passive smoking, but we
citizens really have to take matters into our own hands.
It will be too late if we wait for the government to do something.
MARK SIMKIN: Atsuko Sasaki is a doctor who helps people kick the habit.
Her help doesn't come heap.
The course costs more than $1,000.
But the clients believe it's a small price to pay.
ATSUKO SASAKI: It's been calculated that 114,200 Japanese people died of the
tobacco-related diseases in 2000.
The number of deaths has doubled in 20 years and if the number of young
smokers continues to increase, so will the deaths.
MARK SIMKIN: We wanted to put these issues to the Japanese Government and
Japan Tobacco.
But neither would agree to an interview.
Mark Simkin, Lateline.