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Project Officer and GNBS at odds over Tobacco Standard
Project Officer of the Guyana Chest Society, Eshwar Raghunath, has refuted statements by the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) that the controversial Tobacco Standard was not at the Tourism Ministry, but rather it was still at the GNBS.
However, Raghunath told Kaieteur News, yesterday, that he is not aware that the standard was still at the GNBS. The technical officers from the Office of the Director of the GNBS informed him (Raghunath) that the standard was forwarded to the Ministry of Tourism Industry and Commerce.
According to the Project Officer, he has received a correspondence from the Tourism Ministry explaining that the Ministry will give the Private Sector Commission another chance to express comments and suggestions about the standard.
Raghunath also noted that officials from the Ministry even went as far as taking the document to the Permanent Secretary of the Tourism Ministry in order to ‘speed up’ the process.
On Thursday last, the Public Relations Officer of the GNBS, Lloyd David, in a press statement to the media noted that the Tobacco Standard was not at the Tourism Ministry and explained that the GNBS is still examining the documents under its standard development process.
Kaieteur News in its December 12, 2009 edition had carried an article under the headline, “Tobacco Standard stalled at Tourism Ministry”, which quoted Raghunath as expressing his dissatisfaction that although the standard was developed, it is still to receive the approval from the Tourism Ministry.
Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, had also expressed his dissatisfaction with the process, as he had revealed that the Tourism Ministry is once again going through another stage of public consultation before the standard is approved.
In its statement, the GNBS had explained that “the development and production of a standard must go through a series of steps and stages in following due process and transparency requirements, and there must be adequate public consultation countrywide. Such consultations target all sectors, both public and private.”
Project Officer: Eshwar Raghunath
According to the GNBS, although the Draft Tobacco Standard was finalised as a Voluntary National Standard in August, 2009, the standardisation process requires that further steps be taken before the Standard is submitted to the Minister of Tourism, who also must ensure that all requirements are fulfilled before the standard is submitted to Cabinet for approval.
The GNBS also noted that there was no communication between the Guyana Chest Society and Mr. Raghunath of the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce.
The GNBS denied that the private sector was given another chance to comment on the standard in keeping with the request from the Tourism Minister.
“The GNBS is not aware of any new amendments required of the standard. The Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce and the GNBS, are aware of the importance of making the said standard mandatory and understand the urgent need for Guyana to satisfy the requirements of the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC) to which Guyana is a signatory.
Due process however must be followed to ensure full transparency.”
In 2005, Guyana signed onto the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), where there are several articles within that treaty that addresses the control of tobacco as well as its demand and supply.
Since then, Governments had three years to implement the various principles of the treaty but Guyana is in breach of Article 11, which deals specifically with the packaging and labeling of tobacco products.
This article demands that governments implement pictorial health warnings on cigarette packages, but to date, this is still to be done in Guyana.
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