03 Jun 2013

A 2008 survey conducted among young people in Botswana has showed that 14 per cent of school-going age are smokers.This, according to World Health Organisation (WHO) representative, Dr Eugene Nyarko, is a major cause of concern as starting that early might mean they develop tobacco related illnesses earlier and die younger.

Dr Nyarko, who was giving a global overview of tobacco use and response at World no tobacco Day commemoration in Maun, said a lot of non-smokers were exposed to second hand smoke adding that there was no safe level of exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke even though the tobacco industry wanted people to believe otherwise.

He said tobacco smoke contained more than 4 000 chemicals of which at least 250 were known to be harmful and more than 50 caused cancer.

“This calls for laws, which protect the health of non-smokers, encourage and support smokers to quit”.  He also stated that second-hand smoke causes more than 600 000 premature deaths per year.

He said tobacco epidemic was one of the biggest public health threats the world had ever faced adding that it devastated populations, consumed dwindling family incomes and saddled economies with huge national bills.

Dr Nyarko observed that tobacco killed nearly six million people a year of whom more than five million were users and ex-users while more than 600 000 were non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke.

He said the industry was running away from stringent controls in the developed world and was taking advantage of gaps in legislative and policy frameworks in the developing countries.

He praised Botswana for being step ahead in controlling tobacco noting that the country’s legislative framework had embraced to a good extent the six measures in place which corresponded to at least one provision of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

For her part, the executive director of the Anti-Tobacco Network, Dr Bontle Mbongwe urged the government to strictly ban all advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products.

She said while the country was a step ahead in prohibiting advertising, the law was not comprehensive enough and therefore not yet completely fulfilling the requirements under the commitments set out in WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. ENDS