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EFFORTS TO BAN CIGARETTE ADS CONTINUE

The National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas PA) said Saturday it would stop its campaign for an end to cigarette promotion.

"The commission will continue its campaign to ban cigarette advertising. We are trying to push the health bill into law before the current House of Representatives members finish their term," said Cahya Shima Dewi, the commission's communication officer.

Cahya said the commission was still demanding that lawmakers impose harsher measures on cigarette usage through the health bill.

"The Komnas is pleading for a picture of the effect cigarettes have on the lungs, like the ones used overseas, be placed on every cigarette pack," she told The Jakarta Post in a telephone interview.

"The bill should ban smoking in public places and tax on tobacco products must be increased as much as possible."

The health bill was passed into law on Monday and contains only two articles on cigarettes.

Article 114 orders those producing or importing cigarettes to include health warnings while Article 115 regulates on smoke-free locations. There are, however, no articles on higher taxation.

Cahya said the commission would continue its efforts so that the tobacco control bill may be endorsed by members of the next House.

"According to lawmakers we have met, House members are divided among themselves about the importance of the tobacco control bill," she said.

Cahya added that parents also had a responsibility to prevent their children becoming smokers.

"I call on parents who are smokers, please do not smoke in front of your children," she said.

"If you want to smoke, please go outside or do it elsewhere."

Cahya said children tended to imitate their parents' actions; therefore, if a father or a mother smoked, a child would be likely to smoke too.

She said parents must be careful when taking their children to events sponsored by cigarette companies.

"We once went to a family event sponsored by a cigarette company. There were so many children's games and attractions there," she said. "Yet, to play the games, people had to buy packs of cigarettes before they got the coins to play. That is how cigarette makers indoctrinate our children that smoking is not a dangerous activity."

Cahya said there had been encouraging results from the commission's campaign, such as the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) edict which forbade smoking by children and pregnant women, and smoking in public places.

There had been disappointments too, though, due to the recent Constitutional Court verdict which favored cigarette advertisements as regulated by the Broadcasting Law, said Cahya.

The Commission lamented that the court allowed Niken Rahmat, Suwarno M. Serad and Gabriel Mahad to become witnesses for the government at the hearing.

The Broadcasting Law stipulates that witnesses should not have a personal interest in the case's result. Yet, both Niken and Suwarno are cigarette companies employees. Gabriel also had a personal interest in a cigarette company, the commission said in a media statement.

Niken argued to the Constitutional Court that a cigarette was a legal product therefore it was legal to advertise the product.

Suwarno testified that the research which said cigarettes caused death might be invalid, since there were no death certificates specifying smoking as a cause of death, while Gabriel said there were already sufficient health warnings on each pack of cigarettes.

Despite its disappointment, the commission said it respected the four, out of the nine, judges who gave dissenting opinions on the verdict.

"These judges have given us hope in our efforts to protect children from the dangerous effects of smoking. We are touched and proud of the four judges because they have shown their support for children's rights to health," commission vice chairman Muhammad Joni said in a statement. (mrs)

Can smoking be useful?

Tobacco has been delivered to Europe from the South America in 16 century. Despite smoking existing ban in those times from churches and the government, tobacco smoking became a widespread habit among the population of the European countries.

The structure of a tobacco smoke is combined. There is identified about 500 substances in it. But the basic pharmacologic active substance served by nicotine (sharp effects) and pitch (chronic action).

 It is known about a small number of diseases which develop at smokers less often, than at the non-smoking!

They are: a toxicosis of pregnancy, pulmonary postoperative embolism ( blood-vessel occlusion – dangerous complication), Parkinson's disease, ulcerative colitis, an Alzheimer's disease (at smokers never develops!). Also frequency of a endometrium cancer is slightly lower at smoking women, than at the non-smoking. But all the same it is necessary to underline that these minor favorable effects cannot be compared with the risk caused by constant smoking! All know that smoking causes the heaviest forms of many illnesses.

MPs have raised the price of cigarettes

Increased excise tax would almost 4 billion UAH in the budget. Voted Rada adopted amendments to the law "On Amending the Law on excise duty rates on tobacco products - transfers.

The Act established elevated rates of excise duty on tobacco products. There is not voted in the regional and the communists. "Those who say that are concerned about your health, they are deceiving you. This is not about health but about 3,7 billion UAH. Does the fact that the price increase, someone quit smoking? Not cast! Be smoking but at the expense of his and so a small budget ", - said communist Adam Martyniuk. At the same time, the parliamentary group "For Ukraine," confident that the increase in excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol does not lead to increased smuggling to Ukraine. This was stated in an interview with journalists from the People's Deputy of NUNS, a member of the group "For Ukraine" Kseniya Lyapina. Liapina said: "The cost of our cigarette does not exceed the cost of cigarettes in Russia, if you convert it to UAH.

This means that the flow of contraband from Russia is unlikely to begin. It seems to me that it would not have such serious consequences, as now projected." Specific figures on how much more will be forced to pay the buyers of cigarettes, has not yet been reported. The Verkhovna Rada adopted the bill «On Making Amendments to the Law of Ukraine on the rates of excise duty on tobacco products on the excess revenue». As the correspondent of «proUA», the adoption of a law voted in 241 people's deputies. «Yes, the law is needed to replenish the budget, but let us when making changes to the state budget providing that 100% of the money went to health programs, treatment of cancer and cardiovascular disease, to fight tuberculosis, for prevention and treatment of AIDS, the financial support of agricultural development and road network. Exceptionally for this purpose », - said before the vote Litvin. Remember, the bill provided for increasing the ad valorem rate of excise duty on cigarettes from 16% to 20% from 1 May.