22 Mar 2013

Lack of appropriate legislation, proper monitoring and limited understanding of the provisions of the Control of Smoking Act (CSA) by tobacco control officers remain major hindrances to fighting tobacco use, health officer Mr Ephraim Rapalai said.

He was speaking at a Media and NGOs workshop on Tobacco Industry and Tobacco Advertising, Promotion and Sponsorship.  He said as a result tobacco was sold everywhere, even in the streets, rendering it a difficult compound to control.

Mr Rapalai said parents were not familiar with the provisions of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) which prohibited access to tobacco products by persons under the age of 18 years.

He said the CSA provided various ways to protect minors and the youth by limiting their access to tobacco. One way it did that was by prohibiting persons under the age of 18 from handling and selling tobacco products. It also forbids sellers from hiring children under the age of 18 as tobacco advertisers or sellers.

“It also prohibits sale of tobacco products through vending machines and displays that permit a person to handle the product before paying or toys [shaped in the form of tobacco] that would reasonably appeal to persons under the age of 18,” he said.

He said regulations on the content of tobacco products had not yet been addressed in the current act. This created some loophole and challenges that included cross-border advertising of tobacco products through newspapers, magazines, internet and television.

“Enforcement at the point of sale and at focal points is still minimal due to insufficient funding of the programme and shortage of manpower,” he said adding that inadequate inspection by government personnel was also minimal.

Another challenge, he said, was interference from tobacco industry which promoted its illicit trade by pretending to be against illegal tobacco products from Zimbabwe.

However he said it had since been realised that the tobacco industry was the real perpetrator as it  licenced some vendors to sell their illicit products in bulk at a cheaper rate. It would then pretend to  spy on those who ssold Zimbabwean products, and report them so as to disguise its illegal products.

This, he said, allowed them to evade tax under the pretext that they were the watchdog for illegal trade on tobacco products.

For her part, Anti-Tobacco Network (ATN) interim executive director, Dr Bontle Mbongwe said  the tobacco Industry had a tendency to  gather intelligence which it then used to get favour from governments.

Dr Mbongwe said the industry often lobbied governments, political leaders and law enforcement officers to be on their side by sponsoring some of their activities. This made it difficult for governments to take action against them.

Dr Mbongwe also noted that the tobacco industry tended to form joint ventures with government ministries, parastatals and NGOs or train government employees on tobacco and tax issues or on illicit training where the training would be in their favour.

She noted that this was meant for law enforcement personnel to chase away products from Zimbabwe while they protected their illegal products. ENDS