Excise fund hampers anti-smoking campaign<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Governments' heavy reliance on excise revenues
\nfrom cigarettes is getting in the way of anti-smoking campaigns
\nin most developing countries, including Indonesia, a health
\nexpert of the University of Indonesia said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Daniati K.S. Soewarta of the university's School of Medicine
\nsaid during a seminar on Tuesday that while more people in
\nindustrialized countries are kicking the habit, the number of
\nsmokers in developing countries is increasing, particularly among
\nyoung people.<\/p>\n
Daniati, a lung disease specialist, said governments in
\ndeveloping countries have not been very supportive of anti-
\nsmoking campaigns because they needed the huge excise revenues
\nthat cigarette manufacturers are contributing to their coffers.<\/p>\n
Ignorance about the health hazards of smoking has allowed the
\nnumber of smokers in developing countries to increase almost
\nunchecked, she said.<\/p>\n
The World Health Organizations (WHO) reported in 1991 that
\ncigarettes are responsible for the death of three million people
\neach year in advanced and developing countries.<\/p>\n
The report, based on a survey between 1985 and 1990, estimated
\nthat 52 percent of all adult men and 10 percent of all adult
\nwomen worldwide smoked. The average rates for developed countries
\nwere 51 percent of the men and 21 percent of the women, while for
\ndeveloping countries they were 54 and eight percent respectively.<\/p>\n
The rates for Indonesia however was 61 percent of all adult
\nmen and five percent of adult women, according to the report
\nwhich was cited by Daniati in her paper.<\/p>\n
She presented her paper in a seminar on Women's Awareness over
\nCigarette Problems organized by the Indonesian Women Against
\nTobacco (WITT), a member of the United States-based
\nInternational Network of Women Against Tobacco (INWAT) with 34
\nother countries. The group is campaigning to increase women's
\nrole in the fight against tobacco here.<\/p>\n
The chairwoman of the Indonesian Heart Foundation, L.A.
\nHanifah, told the seminar that anti-smoking campaigns in
\ndeveloping countries are cursed with many obstacles, including
\ngovernment attitudes.<\/p>\n
"Governments only look at the economic benefits of the tobacco
\nindustry but not at the problems it causes. They are ignorant
\nabout the health effect and the huge medical cost they are
\naccumulating for later," Hanifah said, adding that the cost in
\nfact outweighs the excise revenues from cigarettes.<\/p>\n
Dianiati said smoking is still the chief cause of heart
\nillness, now already the number one killer disease in Indonesia,
\nand the chief cause of cancer, especially lung cancer.<\/p>\n
She said a recent survey of 50 people who suffer lung cancer
\nby the University of Indonesia's School of Medicine found that 78
\npercent of them were smokers, 10 percent were former smokers for
\nperiods between one and 10 years, and four percent were former
\nsmokers for more than 10 year. Only eight percent of them were
\nnon-smokers.<\/p>\n
Hanifah said anti-smoking campaigns must also target teenagers
\nbecause of the possibility that many would later turn to drugs.
\n(31)<\/p>",
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