Picture warnings work

Hard-hitting anti-tobacco advertisements and graphic pack warnings – especially those that include pictures – reduce the number of children who begin smoking and increase the number of smokers who quit.

Studies carried out after the implementation of pictorial package warnings in Brazil, Canada, Singapore and Thailand consistently show that pictorial warnings significantly increase people's awareness of the harms of tobacco use.

Mass media campaigns can also reduce tobacco consumption, by influencing people to protect non-smokers and convincing youths to stop using tobacco.

Just 19 countries, representing 15% of the world's population, meet the best practice for pictorial warnings, which includes the warnings in the local language and cover an average of at least half of the front and back of cigarette packs. No low-income country meets this best-practice level.
Forty-two countries, representing 42% of the world’s population, mandate pictorial warnings.
Graphic warnings can persuade smokers to protect the health of non-smokers by smoking less inside the home and avoiding smoking near children.
More than 1.9 billion people, representing 28% of the world's population, live in the 23 countries that have implemented at least one strong anti-tobacco mass media campaign within the last two years.

Leading cause of death, illness and impoverishment

The tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced. It kills nearly six million people a year of whom more than 5 million are users and ex users and more than 600 000 are nonsmokers exposed to second-hand smoke. Approximately one person dies every six seconds due to tobacco and this accounts for one in 10 adult deaths. Up to half of current users will eventually die of a tobacco-related disease.

Nearly 80% of the more than one billion smokers worldwide live in low- and middle-income countries, where the burden of tobacco-related illness and death is heaviest.

Tobacco users who die prematurely deprive their families of income, raise the cost of health care and hinder economic development.

In some countries, children from poor households are frequently employed in tobacco farming to provide family income. These children are especially vulnerable to "green tobacco sickness", which is caused by the nicotine that is absorbed through the skin from the handling of wet tobacco leaves.

Second-hand smoke kills

Second-hand smoke is the smoke that fills restaurants, offices or other enclosed spaces when people burn tobacco products such as cigarettes, bidis and water pipes. There is no safe level of exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke.

Every person should be able to breathe smoke-free air. Smoke-free laws protect the health of non-smokers, are popular, do not harm business and encourage smokers to quit.1

Under 11% of the world's population are protected by comprehensive national smoke-free laws.
The number of people protected from second-hand smoke more than doubled to 739 million in 2010 from 354 million in 2008.
Almost half of children regularly breathe air polluted by tobacco smoke.
Over 40% of children have at least one smoking parent.
Second-hand smoke causes more than 600 000 premature deaths per year.
In 2004, children accounted for 31% of the deaths attributable to second-hand smoke.
There are more than 4000 chemicals in tobacco smoke, of which at least 250 are known to be harmful and more than 50 are known to cause cancer.
In adults, second-hand smoke causes serious cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, including coronary heart disease and lung cancer. In infants, it causes sudden death. In pregnant women, it causes low birth weight.

British American Tobacco’s corporate greed

BAT sells on average per month 100 million sticks of tobacco and annually 1.2 billion sticks of Tobacco. It is estimated that in Papua New Guinea the adult smoking population is approximately 3 million out of a population of 7 million. If you do the math, this is really scary.

BAT’s overall goal and objective is to grow volume through increased distribution, they do this by making cigarettes available in every outlet, street market, and clubs, with no concern for the exposure it has on our children.

The real reason why prices of cigarettes went up in December and in early January was because management had decided to hold back stock, because they had already hit their final year end Target in November 2011, which guaranteed them Fat bonuses. They also held back the stock because they wanted to manage their shareholder expectations down in Australia. If they had gone over target, this year 2012 shareholders will be putting more pressure and demand more from them, hence no guarantee for another fat bonus.

Because of Corporate Greed they have gone ahead and violated the basic rights of consumers in PNG, after getting them hooked on the drug.

The ICCC and IRC must investigate this because the lives of Papua New Guineans are at risk from this greedy corporate giant, and if worse comes to worse a class action in courts is possible.

Review of Areca (Betel) Nut and Tobacco Use

Review of Areca (Betel) Nut and Tobacco Use in the Pacifc: A Technical Report

Executive summary:There is evidence to show that the frequency of betel nut use is increasing in the Western Pacific Region and that its use is more frequently associated with the chewing of tobacco. Betel nut chewing induces oral precancerous lesions that have a high propensity to progress. Betel nut itself has been classified as a Group 1 carcinogen (carcinogenic to humans) by the International Agency for Cancer Research (IARC). While it is clear that the use of betel nut alone is a threat to health, its combination with tobacco greatly increases an individual’s risk of premature illness and death. In countries in the Western Pacific Region where this is observed, betel nut and tobacco chewing has become a significant public health problem.

With the entry into force of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), there has been increasing concern about the promotion of smokeless tobacco use. The groundwork for this report began in 2006 when the Tobacco Free Initiative (TFI), the Western Pacific c Regional Office, commissioned the Secretariat of the Pacific c Community (SPC) to review the use of betel (areca) nut and tobacco in the Western Pacific c Region. This was followed in August 2010 by a meeting of national focal points in tobacco control from the countries that report high use of betel nut and tobacco. Proposed actions have been mapped and linked to the Regional Action Plan for the TFI in the Western Pacific c Region (2010-2014). This document is envisioned as a supplement for countries that wish to highlight specific c tobacco control indicators and actions related to reduction of smokeless tobacco use.

A major effort needs to be made to provide decision-makers with evidence of the serious harm caused by betel nut chewing, with and without tobacco. Community-based strategies are also needed to overcome cultural beliefs and practices that are barriers to sound public health measures that can save lives and prevent unnecessary suffering from oral cancer and other diseases.

Tobacco the second major cause of death in the world

By Kia Henry Nema Quit smoking is the best thing you can do for your health, future and family. Tobacco is the second major cause of death in the world. It is currently responsible for the death of one in ten adults worldwide (about 5 million deaths each year). If current smoking patterns continue, it will cause some 10 million deaths each year by 2020. Half the people that smoke today—that is about 650 million peo...ple—will eventually be killed by tobacco. Each day in the WHO Western Pacific Region, 3000 people die from tobacco use. In the Pacific PNG has the highest number of smokers. For our adult population the prevalence is 44.0% (males: 60.3% and females: 27.0%). 43.7% of the adults smoke daily (males: 59.9%, females: 27.6%). That means 4 in every 10 adult smoke and the same number of adults smoke daily. For our school aged youths the prevalence of those that ever smoked tobacco is 55.3% (boys: 64.4%, girls: 47.0%. The rate of those that currently use tobacco products is 47.7% (boys: 55.4%, girls: 40.3%). That means 5.5 in every 10 children between 13-15 yrs old smoked tobacco the same number currently use tobacco products. In every single tobacco cigarette it contains 4,000 cancer causing chemicals that will kill its users. Cigarettes are chemically engineered to keep its users hooked to the nicotine. Tobacco companies are canning and deceitful and will make you hooked to their product. No cigarette is ‘safe’. Do not be deceived by the tobacco companies that cigarette is an adult choice. They are trying to sell a product to poison you. This is a disaster waiting to happen. Act Now! to denormalize smoking in your community. It is illegal to smoke in any public places – schools, health facilities, markets, sporting fields, public transport, hotels, clubs and any enclosed places. That is provided for by the Tobacco Products (Health Control) Act 1987. By NOT Smoking you care for your health, your family’s and the community. Let’s make PNG Smoke Free and on the roads towards a happy, healthy and prosperous nation!