Responsible for millions of premature deaths each year and contributing significantly to climate change, Adviser to the Health Ministry, Dr Leslie Ramsammy believes the next move should be to ban tobacco use.
In this week’s edition of the Health Matters programme, the glaring effects of tobacco use was drawn into focus. The tobacco industry’s carbon footprint from production, processing and transporting tobacco is equivalent to one-fifth of the carbon dioxide produced by the commercial airline industry each year, further contributing to global warming.
Adviser to the Health Ministry, Dr Leslie Ramsammy
More than eight million people die prematurely from tobacco use every year and it is a product which utilises thousands of hectares of agricultural land.
Taking these factors into account, Dr Ramsammy positioned, “Tobacco is a killer and we should not diminish that fact…It is unfathomable that a global system will still support the utilisation of 200,000 hectares of land that could grow food to feed the hungry but we grow tobacco that kills eight million of us prematurely…It is not just a talk about reducing the use of tobacco but that we ban tobacco; that tobacco is not an agricultural product.”
According to the health official, while it has been years since nations signed onto the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, there has been little control on cigarettes, with a growing number of youths smoking.
“Tobacco contributes to the existential threats that face the world. It is time we do more. Long after, coming up to 20 years since we signed the FCTC, we have made little progress towards controlling cigarettes. We can’t have 24 per cent of the global population smoking.”
He added, “We still have very poor to none regulations when it comes to e-cigarettes. Vaping and hookah are practices now that are now gaining popularity in the young population and we seem oblivious to the dangers.”
In 2017, the National Tobacco Control Act mandated the adoption of a series of tobacco control policies. These include 100 per cent smoke-free environments in all indoor public spaces, indoor work spaces, public transportation and specified outdoor spaces; a ban on all forms of advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products; health warnings featured on 60 per cent of tobacco product packaging, including images. It also includes a ban on the sale of tobacco products to minors.
During an earlier statement this past week for World No Tobacco Day, Dr Ramsammy as Chairperson of the Presidential Commission on the Prevention and Control of the NCDs recognised, “Six years after the Act was enacted, Guyana is yet to fully implement the provisions of the Act. We urge the Ministry of Health and other implementing agencies to ensure the full implementation of the Act.”
Technical Officer at the Chronic Diseases Unit, Dr Shelieza Gopie underscored that some persons do not know this piece of legislation exists.
“We can still say that the legislation is fairly new but persons are still not aware of the Tobacco Control Act. When we go into the hinterland regions, they do not know about these rules but are very happy to learn about them when we do our sensitisation.” (G12)
