Draft Tobacco Control Bill still at level of Cabinet

Dec 29, 2016 News

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– Public Health Minister “unsure” when it will be tabled

Although it is viewed by many within the public health sector as an especially crucial move, the long

awaited passage of the Tobacco Control Bill in the National Assembly continues to be delayed. Although it was slated to be tabled at a recent sitting of the National Assembly, the draft legislation continues to be in a preparatory phase.
Minister of Public Health, Dr. George Norton, substantiated this state of affairs yesterday when he disclosed that the draft legislation is currently at the level of Cabinet and is waiting to be placed on the Order Paper for a future sitting of the National Assembly.
Although he is eager to see it passed, Minister Norton said he was unable to say definitively whether the tabling of the Bill will be at the next sitting. He revealed, however, that the Bill was not brought to the National Assembly at the most recent sitting because of the budget debate.
But the Minister’s disclosure is particularly daunting to those who had long anticipated the passage of the Bill. This is in light of the fact that the Minister in early April of this year had said that the Bill was expected to be tabled shortly. Even then the Minister had admitted that the Bill was ready to be tabled. He said then that “after many delays…the Bill is finally being tabled.”
He had disclosed then too that a Cabinet sub-committee had reviewed and approved it and had further stated that the final approval was granted at a Cabinet sitting. The sub-committee is tasked with examining all Bills before submission to the National Assembly.
But even before his disclosure, Cabinet had given approval for the Tobacco Control Bill to be submitted to the National Assembly in 2015 although it was still under scrutiny by the committee.
Given the many delays, there is no telling when the Bill will be able to gain certain passage through the National Assembly.
The Bill was long in the making and was touted as a crucial need since in 2009, by then Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy. Dr. Ramsammy had not wavered in his call for this Bill to be fast-tracked given the health implications of tobacco use.
But it was made clear by Dr. Ramsammy that in order for such a legislation to be introduced, government needs the support of all stakeholders. “There has to be an overwhelming advocacy in our country for this, because part of it is already there…taxation is there, so we don’t need a law for that,” Dr. Ramsammy had long asserted.
He’d disclosed too that if the law is to be, it would restrict the advertisement of any tobacco products in Guyana, whether it is on television, radio, newspapers, billboards and posters.
“No one can encourage or permit the advertisement of a killer. This is a killer and we must not permit it to happen. I find it most appalling that educated people cannot see the ulterior motives of the marketers and the producers when they make beautiful posters with beautiful adults smoking and state that children should not smoke,” Dr. Ramsammy had amplified.
This publication has not been privy to the draft bill in its current state, however, Dr. Ramsammy was of the view that the legislation should be one that restricts tobacco marketing companies and manufacturers from even sponsoring any kind of event.
Once made into law it is expected that the legislation will also regulate where people can smoke. Added to this, it is hoped that as law, it will restrict children under the age of 18 from smoking, and they should also be prevented from procuring tobacco products.
With a Tobacco legislation there is expected to be penalties for adults who sell cigarettes to children. Added to this, if a child buys or attempts to buy the product on behalf of an adult, that adult should be punished.
Major tobacco company, Demerara Tobacco Company, has not been too heartened by the proposed legislation and has even claimed that it was not consulted as a major stakeholder.
If implemented, the legislation could have a major impact on the sale of tobacco products.
Based on reports, the sale of tobacco has been increasing along with profits over the years. In the Caribbean, it was reported that profits by tobacco companies in the past had increased between 600 and 1200 per cent.
According to statistics that were released a few years ago, although tobacco is such a dangerous substance, at least 11 per cent of children in Guyana are regular smokers and at least 20 per cent of them began smoking before they were 10 years old.
A few years ago, the International Monetary Fund had revealed that out of a total of 163 countries, 66 middle or low income countries have either legislation or polices that regulate the sale, marketing and use of tobacco. It meant then that close to 100 countries in the world had no rules when it comes to the regulation and control of tobacco control and sales.
In Guyana and in a number of the Caribbean and developing countries, there is no law that would stop a child from buying tobacco.
However, Guyana has in place an old Poisons and Therapeutics ordinance law which, according to Dr. Ramsammy, states that children cannot be sold hazardous materials. The latter law, however, has not been effective in preventing children’s purchase of tobacco.
According to statistics, every year, tobacco kills six million people – 5.4 million active smokers and 600,000 non-smokers exposed to second hand smoke. It is the only legal consumer product that kills up to half of its users when used exactly as intended by the manufacturer, costing the global economy an estimated US$200 billion each year.

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