Govt to limit tobacco ads and sponsorship

Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government plans to draft a bill on tobacco control after the country, together with 191 other members of the World Health Organization (WHO), adopted the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) on Wednesday.

The convention requires countries to impose restrictions on tobacco advertising, sponsorship and promotion, establish new labeling, as well as clean indoor air controls and strengthen legislation to clamp down on tobacco smuggling, with the aim of curbing tobacco-related deaths and disease.

"Indonesia will soon ratify the convention and soon after that prepare a bill on tobacco control," Minister of Health Achmad Suyudi told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

The bill, he said, would focus on limiting tobacco advertising, sponsorship and promotion. "Those advertisements that violate the law might be banned," he said.

According to a WHO report, smoking rates are increasing, especially among young people in many developing countries.

Pulmonologist from the Persahabatan Hospital, East Jakarta, Tjandra Yoga Aditama said on Friday that 20 percent of all male teenagers in the country -- aged from 11 to 19 years old -- were now active smokers.

"The most vulnerable sector of the population is always the under-20 age group," he said. "A smoker's first exposure to cigarettes is always when he is below the age of 20."

The bill would also protect the rights of nonsmokers, the minister said, without going into details.

Passive smokers are people who themselves do not smoke, but inhale tobacco smoke when other people in their vicinity smoke.

Tjandra told the Post that tobacco might cause 25 diseases, varying from cardiovascular disease to male sexual impotency.

Tobacco now kills about five million people worldwide per year. It is estimated that the mortality rate may double to do you mean 10 million by the year 2020.