Taxation absent from tobacco control
PAHO/WHO Director of Non-Communicable Diseases and Mental Health, Dr. Anselm Hennis
PAHO/WHO Director of Non-Communicable Diseases and Mental Health, Dr. Anselm Hennis

– PAHO/WHO expert urges action to address this void

THOUGH the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has been awarded for its strides in tobacco-control measures, PAHO/WHO Director of Non-Communicable Diseases and Mental Health, Dr. Anselm Hennis, has advanced that tobacco taxation is crucial.

On Friday night, the MoPH received the World No Tobacco Day Award conferred on it by the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) for leading the way in tobacco control in the Region.

Guyana has passed the Tobacco Control Bill in keeping with the convention.

Speaking at the award ceremony Friday night, Dr. Hennis explained that while Guyana is showing prudence in its tobacco-control measures geared at promoting good public health, taxation remains a key measure for tobacco control.

“Cigarettes are addictive; if you never buy them, you never become addicted,” Dr Hennis said, noting that the price of tobacco products will increase due to taxation and adolescents with limited money would not buy cigarettes.

“[This] significantly reduces the number of adolescent smokers, protecting future generations,” he said.

Article Six of the WHO FCTC deals with price and tax measures to reduce the demand for tobacco, but Guyana’s legislation does not address this particular issue. As reported by the Guyana Chronicle in June 2017, it will be addressed soon, however.

Tobacco is the most significant preventable public health threat ever faced by mankind, killing half of its users, the doctor related. He shared too that more than seven million people die each year because of tobacco, where more than six million deaths result directly from tobacco use and around 900,000 due to second-hand smoking.

In the local context, nearly seven in every 10 deaths are caused by Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which have tobacco use as a major underlying cause. Also, according to the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) 2015, about 15 per cent of young people in Guyana, aged between 13 and 15 years old, also use tobacco, added to 15 per cent of the adult population that also use the substance.

“This is of particular concern, since as you would have heard, tobacco is highly addictive and once adolescents begin to smoke, they become the next generation of smokers,” Dr. Hennis said, adding: “Sustaining the tobacco industry will ensure that health costs will continue to rise and that lives will be lost prematurely.”

Hennis cautioned stakeholders to be wary of the tobacco industry’s attempts to block implementation of the bill.

“Do not heed the industry’s guile that illicit trade in tobacco will increase [because of the bill],” he warned and stressed, “Guyana is well ahead of the curve and has already been establishing measures to counter the illicit trade through interventions currently being implemented by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA).”

Instead, he urged that the stakeholders oppose all direct industry attempts to hinder progress of the legislation which is designed to protect the public’s health.

“We know — as we have seen — that the process of passing this bill was not without complications and challenges,” the director reflected.
He added: “We’re also aware that the implementation of the Tobacco Control Act will indeed face several obstacles.” Nevertheless, he commended the astute political engagement and leadership that fostered the bill’s historical passage.

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