Tuesday, March 11, 2008 Health office bares new drive to stop smoking
THE Department of Health (DOH) has unveiled another campaign to prevent and control tobacco-related diseases in the country.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the DOH will now adopt the MPower package of the World Health Organization (WHO) -- a set of six key tobacco control measures which build on the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC), to which the Philippines is a signatory.
"The MPower package is the most powerful weapon of the global community to stop the spread of tobacco and its harm to nations and economies. The DOH is proud to use this weapon now to strengthen the implementation of our laws and to push our crusade toward a smoke-free Philippines," Duque said.
MPower consists of globally known cost-effective anti-smoking strategies as follows: M-monitoring tobacco use and prevention policies; P-protecting people from tobacco smoke; O-offering help to quit tobacco use; W-warning about the dangers of tobacco use; E-enforcing bans on tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship; and R-raising taxes on tobacco.
It was reported that at least a third of adult Filipinos are smoking, while one-fifth of the youth are into this vice.
In 2006, it was found that the total economic costs to the Philippines of active smoking alone and for only four of the 40 smoking-related diseases amounted to as high as US$6.05 billion dollars (or P300 billion).
This amount discounts those for cigar smokers and the effects of second-hand smoke to women, children, and other populations exposed to smoking (Tobacco and Poverty Study 2006).
Duque added that as far as prevention policies are concerned, the DOH and the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance, Phil. (Fcap) are continuously honing anti-smoking strategies and working at engaging other actors for a broadened participation for tobacco control.
"We are seriously monitoring the implementation and compliance with the provisions of WHO-FCTC and Republic Act (RA) 9211 together with the members of the Inter-agency Committee on Tobacco (IACT)," Duque said.
"Protecting people from tobacco smoke is a tough call. With the mandate given to the DOH to implement RA 9211 with other concerned agencies, we have been actively advocating to owners of public establishments to adhere to the law and designate smoking zones in their respective hotels and restaurants," Duque reiterated.
"But what we are really aiming for is 100 percent smoke-free environments because only this can provide effective protection for our people. No amount of ventilation or filtration currently is good enough to eliminate the harm of secondhand tobacco smoke," he added.
At present, there are now smoke-free establishments in the country especially in cities where anti-smoking laws are being strictly enforced like Davao and Makati. In Davao City, all hotels are smoke-free. In Makati City, there are also designated smoking areas in public places.
"Presently, we are lobbying in Congress for the passage of the bill calling for graphic pack warnings where pictures of diseases related to smoking to be literally displayed in cigarette packs," Duque said.
RA 9211 also stipulated that advertising should be totally banned by 2007.
"Regarding enforcing bans on advertising, promotion and sponsorship, we are strictly monitoring its implementation. As a matter of fact, the IACT have already sued in court tobacco industries that have tried to circumvent this provision," Duque said.
As far as raising tobacco's taxes, Duque said the DOH is lobbying for the imposition of higher taxes on tobacco because this has been identified as the single most cost effective strategy to reduce smoking especially among the poor and the young who can least afford to bear the brunt of smoking-related diseases. (FP/Sunnex)
