Tobacco Bill to go to Parliament soon

KINGSTON — The tobacco control bill, which seeks to combat the use and consequences of tobacco products, will soon be put before Parliament.

“I expect, within three weeks, to have the matter placed before the Parliament and we would have had the framework tobacco legislation in place. The Chief Parliamentary Council is making the final amendments to the documents after which it will be tabled in Parliament,” said Minister of Health, Hon. Rudyard Spencer.

He was speaking yesterday at a national breakfast forum on chronic non-communicable diseases at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston.

The tobacco control legislation is in keeping with the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC). The WHO FCTC is an evidence-based treaty that reaffirms the right of all people to the highest standard of health.

To be included in the legislation, is a total ban on tobacco advertising, sponsorship and promotion of all forms, ensuring smoke-free environments in all enclosed spaces, as well as the prohibition of the sale of tobacco products to minors. Also, the matter of illicit trade of tobacco products and other areas will be addressed.

Minister Spencer noted further that greater interest is being placed on tobacco control, coming out of the First Global Ministerial Conference on Healthy Lifestyles and Non-Communicable Disease Control in April 2011 in Moscow.

“Of particular interest is that the Moscow Declaration urges state parties to accelerate implementation of the provisions of the WHO FCTC,” he said.

Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Eva Lewis-Fuller, informed that a survey conducted by the National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA) in 2010, informed that 24.6 per cent of young people were smokers with the number of female smokers on the increase.

“It really tells the tale that, for all that is being said by the tobacco industry that they are doing these responsibility programmes, what they are doing is stimulating more smoking,” she said.

In the meantime, Mr. Spencer said the Ministry will be continuing efforts to increase health promotion in order to attain the highest level of healthcare for all Jamaicans.

“Our country like many other countries around the world is facing a silent epidemic. Approximately one out of six deaths is due mainly to cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. One in 13 Jamaicans in the 15 to 74 age cohort has diabetes, and one in four Jamaicans in the same age cohort has hypertension,” he lamented.

He said the prevalence of diabetes increases with age with 14 per cent of Jamaicans, 25 years or older, living with the disease. “The prevalence of these diseases is higher in persons with lower levels of education and fewer household possessions. Sixty per cent of persons with diabetes will have three or more co-morbid conditions,” he said.

The Minister said it will take a significant investment in health promotion and education, health systems strengthening and clinical interventions to address this growing epidemic, noting that partners in the private sector, non-governmental organisations and faith-based groups are critical in moving the agenda forward.

“We have an obligation to the Jamaican people to improve access to healthy diets, create the environment that will promote physical activity, reduce and eliminate tobacco use, and eliminate the harmful use of alcohol,” he said.

The one-day forum was aimed at creating a multi-sectoral response to the prevention and control of chronic non-communicable diseases in Jamaica.

By CHRIS PATTERSON, JIS Reporter