Lack of warnings on smoking danger

Lack of warnings on smoking danger

I refer to the letter from Mr. Graeme T. Steel published in
The Jakarta Post on Sept. 14, 2000, titled A different view of
smoking.

Regarding your letter about smoking, I echo your
disappointment with The Jakarta Post for displaying a tobacco
advertisement. However, I must take issue with the rest of your
remarks concerning this newspaper's failure to acknowledge
significant reasons for smoking in a recent editorial.

You stated that few smokers can be unaware of the health
concerns regarding smoking. This may be correct in the expat
community or with middle-class editors working in smart air
conditioned offices. However, it is definitely not the case with
the vast majority of Indonesian smokers who are genuinely
oblivious to the real risks involved.

Because of the lack of regulations in this country, there are
no health warnings or public information campaigns on the dangers
of smoking. On the contrary, the Indonesian people are constantly
exposed to clever advertising campaigns which, through
cigarettes, sell an idea of a seductive lifestyle, far removed
from reality.

Smoking doesn't allay stress. Nicotine promotes it, by causing
the body's adrenal glands to release excess adrenaline; a major
factor in all stress related illness. Nor does it calm the spirit
or stop hunger pangs. Being a smoker means being addicted to
nicotine and nicotine is a drug. So, like any other addict, when
you continue to smoke, all you are doing is stopping the
withdrawal pangs, topping up the nicotine and re-hooking
yourself. Do you call that enjoyment?

Many Indonesian smokers are indeed poor and most of them earn
less than US$1 per day. According to the Ministry of Health these
people spend 30 to 40 percent of their income on cigarettes.
Sadly, their addiction adds to the misery of their lives. It
certainly doesn't lessen it.

Apart from lung cancer, smoking is also a huge contributory
factor in heart disease, arteriosclerosis, emphysema, angina,
thrombosis, bronchitis, asthma and various types of cancer. It's
not just in old age either. Smoking stunts your physical and
intellectual growth, it steals your youth and kills you off
before your time.

I don't blame the smoker -- rich or poor. They are lured into
a clever and subtle trap by the tobacco industry. No smoker ever
wanted or intended to become hooked. Surely, everybody has the
right to be informed of the risks. Why doesn't the government
start a proper campaign? Until then, I am grateful to the Post
for publishing editorials criticizing tobacco. Long may it
continue to do so.

CLARE E. URWIN

Surabaya