Download In Asia the stop smoking battle is failing.
In places like the Philippines the number of smokers…men women and children…is still increasing.
In China, where more than 60 percent of men smoke, it’s okay to light up most anywhere.
Anti-Tobacco activist from across Asia are meeting in the United States this week to talk about what’s going wrong.
Jasvinder Sehgal reports from the conference at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of public health in Baltimore, USA.
Tobacco activists from more than 30 countries around the world are here to get ideas about how to stop people smoking.
More than sixty percent of them come from Asia.
“Well tobacco is a huge issue in Asia and this is particularly because there is a huge tobacco consumption in this region.”
Dr. Upendra Bhojani is a public health expert from India.
“If we list the top twenty countries with the highest male smoking population then 13 out of these 20 countries are from Asia. In fact, China followed by India and Indonesia are the three countries leading this epidemic in this region. Well, apart from smoking tobacco and unlike the rest of the world there is a wide spread use of smokeless tobacco products in this region, If you take the case of India there are at least 100 forms in which tobacco is being used in this country.”
In the decades ahead…smoking deaths in Asia will be four times what they are today.
As many as 105 million young people in the Asia-Pacific region risk dying from smoking-related diseases according to the World Health Organization.
And as many as 50,000 teenagers are taking up smoking every day.
Dr. Bhojani says that the increase in tobacco usage is killing more people.
“A heightened consumption of tobacco leads to a huge health and economic burden in Asia. Of 5.1 million people who die every year globally, 1.2 million people die only in South East Asia that’s only eight countries in this region. By 2030, it has been projected that around 83% of world’s tobacco related deaths will happen in low and middle income countries and most of these deaths will happen in Asia.”
And no one is actively trying to get people to stop smoking.
No commercials on TV, no big push for good health.
The richest and most health conscious country in Asia is Japan.
But in Japan, almost half the men smoke.
One reason...the government is as hooked on nicotine as the people. It owns most of the nation’s one tobacco company, and rakes in billions every year in taxes and profits.
Anti-smoking activists find themselves fighting their own government says Mathew L. Meyers.
He is the President of the US based group Campaign for Tobacco-free kids.
“The major challenge we are facing is the tobacco industry that has corrupted governments and tried to make the most serious public health epidemic, facing the world in to an economic issue. We have seen a dramatic shift in the epidemic and a dramatic shift in the diseases caused by the epidemic as the result of the tobacco industry’s very heavy marketing in lower and middle income countries.”
With the exception of Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand, the region has low taxes on cigarettes, poor regulations on advertising and almost no control on sponsorship.
Although most countries in the Asia have approved the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control they face obstacles when trying to implement it.
Indonesia is the only country left in Asia who will not even sign on to the international aggreement.
Siti Masyitah Rahma the programme manager of Muhamammadiyah an Indonesian Tobacco control center.
“Since we haven’t signed the FCTC, SO we need to have a lot of effort to push our Government, because if we sign FCTC everything will be more easier for us in terms of a ban and then taxation and everything but if Government are serious in protecting their people, may be they say that FCTC is more political issue then at least you have a national regulation that can really protect your people. Because many people have known that Indonesia is the third country who has the highest number of smokers and we didn’t do anything about it.”
Experts say that if pictorial warnings showing the damage of smoking are displayed on the tobacco products they will help to stop people from using tobacco.
Rob Cunningham is a senior policy analyst of the Canadian Cancer Society.
“Some countries have done specially well, Singapore and Thailand, they were the one of the first countries in the world in addition to the Asian region which required picture warnings and they have several round of change. India is in the breach of its international obligations, it is in the violation of Framework Convention on Tobacco Control which has a minimum size requirement. It is disappointing that the tobacco lobby has been so successful at persuading the Government to weaken the warning requirements. I am encouraged that there is now a stronger picture that will be appearing on the packages across India but again, the size, it should be improved, it should be both on front and the back.”
“If you are a non smoker, don’t start. If you smoke or chew tobacco, Quit now. Together we can build a healthier tobacco free future.”
The tiny anti-smoking movement in Asia does have one strange ally.
Kim Jong II – the reclusive dictator of North Korea, is now Asia’s most prominent anti-smoking campaigner…ordering his people to quit.
But there is no indication that Asian nations will kick the habit…anytime soon.
