Campaigners push for tougher anti-tobacco law

Dar es Salaam. Anti-tobacco campaigners are pushing the government to pass a tougher Tobacco Control Bill expected to be tabled in Parliament in February 2018 to deter tobacco use in the country.

Over a decade ago, Tanzania ratified the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, under the World Health Organisation (WHO FCTC 2007), which was touted as instrumental in effective tobacco use control.

“However, the country has not yet enacted any law that will control tobacco use,” said one of the anti-tobacco activists, Ms Lutgard Kagaruki, the executive director of Tanzania Tobacco Control Forum (TTCF).

Ms Kagaruki and other campaigners say it’s about time a tougher law was enacted to check investors, who profit from tobacco business at the expense of people’s health.

“Tobacco investors are very powerful financially. They have the power to lobby, advertise and influence. Because of this, we need committed leadership that will help push for a law that will eventually put this power in check,” she pointed out.

She noted that the tobacco business still flourished in Tanzania because of a belief that the crop was economically important and, therefore, to control it would lead to loss of revenue to the government.

“Statistics on the negative impact of tobacco use show there is a need for urgent change in the way the government looks at things,” she said.

Data from the ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children shows that 14.1 per cent of Tanzanians smoke tobacco daily, while the product remains a major risk factor for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular and chronic respiratory complications.

The TTCF director explained that the Tobacco Products (Regulation) Act, which was enacted in 2003 had loopholes that allowed the tobacco industry to continue advertising and promoting their products. “This,” she noted, “lured the youth to take up tobacco smoking.”

“That’s why I say now that there is a need for a law that conforms to WHO FCTC 2007 requirements.”

The former executive director, South Africa’s National Council Against Smoking, Dr Yussuf Saloojee, said there was a need to raise taxes for the tobacco industry.

“There are countries such as Australia, which have succeeded in controlling the hazards caused by tobacco by raising taxes. It works,” he pointed out.

Dr Saloojee has teamed up with the TTCF, the African Tobacco Control Alliance and the government in building the capacity of journalists to raise public awareness on the hazards caused by tobacco in Tanzania.

He said enacting a tough law, coupled with hiking tobacco business taxes would force tobacco companies to raise the cost of cigarettes and this would finally influence the behaviour of end users, especially the youth.

During this year’s World No Tobacco Day, the WHO released a fact sheet, which shows that through increasing cigarette taxes worldwide by $1, an extra $190 billion could be raised for development.

“High tobacco taxes contribute to revenue generation for governments, reduce demand for tobacco and offer an important revenue stream to finance development activities,” reads a WHO fact sheet released ahead of this year’s World No Tobacco Day.

But also, World Bank reports show that an increase in the real price of cigarettes by 10 per cent globally can prevent 10 million tobacco related deaths worldwide and 0.7 million deaths in sub-Saharan Africa