Come have your say in shaping the laws that control smoking in your society

Fri, Jun 1. 2012

by: Patsy Wyllie
Chief Health Educator
Ministry of Health, Wellness and the Environment

“Almost every organ in your body is harmed by smoking before it ultimately takes your life”.

That cigarette smoking is bad for your health is something that has been decided beyond controversy. Now, a health warning is placed on every packet sold worldwide, clearly alerting potential users of the dangers. So, the next time someone lights up a cigarette in your company, consider this: they are slowly taking away your health and your life with every wisp of smoke you inhale.{{more}}

On Sunday, May 27, the Ministry of Health, Wellness and the Environment provided an opportunity for citizens to have a say in protecting their health by sharing their views on how the law should control smoking in your society, in a live radio link up Views On Issues programme on NBC Radio 705, Hitz FM and WE FM.

Among the critical areas for discussion were:

How should the society control the sale of cigarette products to minors?

How should the law protect you from the dangers of cigarette smoke?

How should it control the advertising, sponsorship and labeling of tobacco products?

Do you know that each time someone lights up a cigarette or other tobacco product you are exposed to over four thousand deadly chemicals?

Chemicals such as arsenic, better known for its use in poisoning rats, Cadmium, an extremely toxic metal found in rechargeable batteries, and Benzene, known to cause cancer, are ingredients in paint thinners and rubber cement. Coupled with all of the foregoing is formaldehyde, which the manuals on poison describe as “known to be a human cancer causing agent,” but even better known for preserving the dead. Almost every organ in your body is harmed by smoking before it ultimately takes your life.

A tobacco initiated illness is often slow, painful and expensive. Yet, each day, millions of tobacco products are manufactured, and with them an alarming rise in the number of tobacco related illnesses and deaths.

Cancer is one of the main diseases caused by tobacco smoke. It is a major risk factor for heart attacks and strokes and has a direct impact on human sexuality by causing impotence in men and infertility in women. Imagine, even the innocent fetus does not escape the deadly effects of tobacco consumption.

World No Tobacco Day, which is observed on May 31st, was introduced in 1987 by the World Health Assembly to bring attention to the tobacco epidemic and its deadly effects. Often the risks are minimized by locating it only with the smokers themselves and disassociating it from the impact it has on those around them.

After hypertension, tobacco use is the second cause of death globally, taking the life of one in 10 adults worldwide. To respond to the globalization of the tobacco epidemic, the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control was developed.

The Treaty is evidence based and reaffirms the right of all people to the highest standard of health. The Convention represents a milestone for the promotion of public health and provides new legal dimensions for international health cooperation. Since its introduction, the treaty has become one of the most rapidly and widely embraced treaties in the United Nations history.

In 2010, St Vincent and the Grenadines became party to the Convention. Consequently, as a nation, we are obligated to take the necessary steps to protect the health of our people in accordance with this convention.

To this end, the Ministry of Health, Wellness and the Environment is taking the process one step further with the formation of a working group comprising other Ministries and NGO’s . Their mandate is to develop policy guidelines and legislation for tobacco control. They will make use of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to inform their work, as well as garner information from the public with regard to what they would like to see included in the tobacco control legislation of the country.