More genuine efforts urgently needed to curb smoking

Seventy sen more for a packet of cigarettes. So what has this move done since it was implemented earlier this month? Has it got a lot of people to give up this evil, unhealthy and deadly habit? Or is it just earning the government more money?

Our contention, from years of studying the issue, is that 70sen more is not going to make any difference to the pocket of the smoker. It will, of course, earn more for those little shops in every neighbourhood that sell cigarettes out of the pack – one or two or more to the “occasional” smokers, and to the schoolchildren as well, who these days can be spotted smoking even in neighbourhood parks, and in their school uniforms too!

To CAP therefore, it appears that there is no sincerity on the part of the government to genuinely come up with and implement anti-smoking measures. We have for a long time asked for more productive measures to be taken to curb the growing habit of smoking, since minimal price increases alone will not be enough.  So, why isn’t the government acting? Is the tobacco industry too powerful?

With more than 4,000 chemicals in tobacco smoke – chemicals that are toxic, cancer-causing or serve as irritants, smoking has been universally accepted as one of the leading causes of cancer.

Government hospital statistics show that lung cancer is the most common form of cancer among males and the overwhelming cause of this cancer is the use of tobacco. Some studies have shown that lung cancer is rising at a rate of 17% a year.

Smoking in Malaysia has reached alarming proportions. According to a 2002 Wold Health Organisation (WHO) study, about half of all Malaysian men smoke and every day, about 50 teenagers below the age of 18 start smoking.

Studies also show that about 30% of adolescent boys (aged 12 to 18) smoke. Smoking among female teenagers is rising. According to two studies on teenagers conducted in Malaysia in 1996 and 1999, the number of female teenagers smoking rose from 4.8% to 8%. Overall, the 1999 study found that nearly one in five Malaysian teenagers smokes.

Smoking causes at least about 10,000 deaths a year, not to mention the enormous costs – running into billions of ringgit – to treat tobacco-related diseases.

Globally, the WHO study warns, smoking related-diseases cause four million deaths annually and if current trends continue, smoking will kill one in six people every day in the year 2030.

CAP therefore reiterates our call for the current prices of cigarettes to be raised much, much more to serve as a sufficient deterrent to the majority of the population. Buying two packs a day is still within the means of most people – so push up the price per pack to RM30. Singaporeans pay up to RM35.40 per pack and Norwegians, RM20.

Many governments have moved to discourage smoking by making tobacco prices prohibitive. In Australia for example, total taxes on cigarettes in 2007 accounted for 62.5% of the final price of a packet of cigarettes. Other measures taken by the Australian government targeting smoking are that cigarettes must be sold in plain packaging by July 1, 2012.

Earlier this year, the Ministry of Health conducted nationwide public consultation forums to gain input from the public as well as civil society for the formulation of a national Tobacco Control Act. Such an Act complete with an realistic price structure and taxation schedule for tobacco products that would genuinely address the smoking epidemic would undoubtedly prove to be a turning point for the rakyat’s health and future.  Unfortunately, as of today, no news of the development or implementation of the Act has been heard of since.

We call upon the Government to revoke its largely ineffectual RM0.70 price increase and immediately establish a minimum price of RM30 per pack, thus effectively putting cigarettes out of the reach of lower and middle income smokers as well as younger smokers.

We also call upon the Malaysian Government which signed the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2003 and acceded to and ratified it in 2005, to abide by the spirit of the treaty which reaffirms the right of all people to the highest standard of health above all else. As Party to the Convention and guardian of the rakyat’s health, the Government must prove to the rakyat its sincerity in wiping out the smoking epidemic by way of higher taxation and pricing among others. The Government must give the rakyat its genuine assurance in guaranteeing solid and unwavering policy and legislative formulation, implementation and enforcement in conformance to the Convention in its entirety and without ambiguity. This must be urgently established through the development and implementation of a pragmatic and rigid Tobacco Control Act.

Letter to the Editor, 11 October 2010