Phasa Newsletter Issue 10 2007

The National Council of Provinces’ Select Committee on Social Services (NCOP) approved draft legislation to help dramatically reduce the ability of cigarette companies to addict young people, as well as protecting them from attacks of asthma, wheezing, bronchitis and pneumonia.


The committee unanimously adopted the Tobacco Products Control Amendment Bill No. 24B of 2006. The Bill will now go to the full NCOP for voting and debate. If approved, the Bill will go to the President to be signed into law. The National Assembly passed the Bill in March. The purpose of the Bill is to ensure that young people don’t start smoking; to protect nonsmokers from pollution caused by tobacco smoke and to help smokers quit. The Bill will protect children in several ways. Firstly, it will make it more difficult for the cigarette companies to addict children. The first ever cigarette puff a child takes can taste harsh, provoke coughing and cause nausea. Cigarette makers add chocolate, licorice, honey, sugar, menthol and hundreds of other chemicals to tobacco to hide its unpleasant taste and make the smoke ‘smoother’ and easier to inhale. Menthol, for instance, numbs the throat, reducing coughing. Currently, tobacco manufacturers can add anything they like to tobacco products. Aside from tobacco leaves up to 1400 other chemicals may be added to tobacco products. These substances help increase the appeal of cigarettes and snuff to youth, and make it more difficult to quit and therefore more harmful to the health of the public. The new law will control the substances that can be added to tobacco products so as to ensure that the manufacturers do not add anything which increases the harm or addictiveness of tobacco.		the new law will help reduce the incidence of asthma, wheezing, bronchitis and pneumonia in this group. The Bill also increases the current restrictions on smoking in public places. Smoking will be moved away from entrances to public buildings and smoking will be restricted in sports stadia, railway platforms, etc. The fine for restaurants, pubs, bars and workplaces that allow smoking will be increased from R200 to a maximum of R50 000. The fine for an individual who smokes in a public place will be a maximum of R500. The National Council Against Smoking welcomes changes to the law. The remarkable decline in smoking rates over the past decade is a testament to the effectiveness of the country’s tobacco control laws. But that does not mean that work on this front is complete. About 23 percent of South African adults currently smoke, down from 35% in 1995. However, 5 million adults still continue to put their health at risk and needlessly face the prospect of cancer, heart attacks, lung disease and complications in pregnancy. The Council is disappointed that the committee elected not to protect domestic workers from second-hand smoke. The Council continues to believe that the right of people to health is more important than the ‘right’ of smokers to pollute the air others have to breathe.

Secondly, the Bill will protect children by banning smoking in childcare facilities and in cars when anyone under twelve years old is present. Those under 18 years will also not be allowed into smoking areas of restaurants, etc. Young children are particularly vulnerable to passive smoking and

Smoking remains a leading cause of premature, preventable death in South Africa. Tobacco kills 30 000 South Africans every year (three times more than motor car accidents) and five million worldwide. Efforts to reduce the death toll will be helped by the new legislation.

For further information please contact:
Dr Yussuf Saloojee
Executive Director
National Council Against Smoking
Tel: 011 643 2958 or 076 633 5322

Framework Convention on Tobacco Control: Second session of Conference of Parties (FCTC COP2)

From 30 June to 6 July 2007, representatives from 147 countries and the European Community gathered in Bangkok, Thailand for the second session of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO FCTC. At this meeting, the Parties had the opportunity to take decisions contributing to the achievement of the objective of the Convention, namely to ‘protect present and future generations from the devastating health, social, environmental and economic consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke.’

The week-long summit addressed inter alia: protection from exposure to tobacco smoke, elimination of illicit trade, cross-border advertisement, promotion and sponsorship, as well as packaging and labelling of tobacco products.

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