Looming law on smoking threatens small-scale cigarette producers

Looming law on smoking threatens small-scale cigarette producers

By Tasrief Tarmizi

JAKARTA (Antara): In the near future, the Indonesian government is due to issue a regulation that will probably reduce people's freedom to smoke.

The government regulation will be the first one aimed at minimizing the health hazards of tobacco, both to the smoker and to the public in general.

The law is being drafted by experts from various professional backgrounds and officials from related government agencies.

News about the plan to issue the regulation has received an enthusiastic response from the public. Experts and officials recognize that tobacco has become one of the main killers.

Health experts and cigarette producers are at odds on finalizing the regulation as both are fighting to stand by their positions. One of the debates most hotly disputed is Chapter 4 article 1 on the allowable nicotine and tar content in each cigarette. The government has set the limit at 1.5 mg for nicotine and 20 mg for tar.

Another issue debated is that Chapter 46 allows a grace period of five years for producers using machines and 15 years for those making cigarettes manually.

The future law also regulates and controls the production and distribution of cigarettes. It requires the producer and importer to provide warning labels on each package about smoking-related dangers to health. Cigarettes will be available only at places determined by local governments, which have the authority to supervise tobacco promotion and determine no smoking areas.

Statistics released by the Ministry of Trade and Industry in 1998 revealed that there were 669 producers of clove-blended (kretek) manufacturers grouped in the Association of Indonesian Cigarette Producers (GAPPRI). They employ about 226,000 people, and have a combined production capacity of 356,100 million cigarettes a year.

Producers of non-clove blended cigarettes grouped in Gaprindo number 11 and employ 2,494 people with a combined capacity of 87 million cigarettes per year.

Machine-rolled clove-blended cigarettes comprise 65 percent of cigarettes on the market and the manually rolled cigarettes represent the other 35 percent.

Cigarettes with low nicotine and tar content (below 1.5 mg and 20 mg per cigarette) account for only 1.6 percent (2.1 billion cigarettes) for machine-rolled cigarettes and 2.8.2 percent (9.2 billion) for manually produced cigarettes.

Gatot Ibnusantoso, the director general for chemical industry, agronomy and forest products, said the 1.5 mg nicotine and 20 mg tar benchmark was set in accordance with the international standard for non-clove cigarettes.

The standard is apparently not entirely suitable for Indonesia, where 87 percent of cigarettes on the market are clove-blended. The kretek is made of tobacco with cloves and has a high nicotine content. Not only nicotine but also tar levels are high.

The right nicotine and tar content for each cigarette type should be different. This requires intricate debates involving the lawmakers and cigarette producers.

Producers of the manually made kretek, who are mostly small- scale entrepreneurs, will find it difficult to comply with the international standard due to the lack of technology and capital. If the government insists on enforcing the policy, it is feared that the death knell will be sounded for small-scale entrepreneurs despite the 15 years grace period.

"It could also bring political and social problems," Gatot said.

He believed that the draft law focused on issues such as "smoking ethics" and where people were allowed or not allowed to smoke.

Assistant to the coordinating minister for economy, finance and industry, Syafruddin A. Temenggung, said the debate on finalization of the bill involved delicate issues. For example, although tobacco poses great health hazards, it contributes a lot to the country's economy in the form of taxes and employment.

He proposes that those involved in drafting the regulation find a win-win solution: maintaining the cigarette industry as an important source of income, but minimizing the danger it poses to public health.

It is estimated that the cigarette industry will contribute about 10 trillion (US$1.2 billion) in taxes to the state coffers this year aside from providing employment for thousands of people.

A World Bank expert estimated in 1990 that Indonesia, where people smoke more than 200 billion cigarettes per year, has to spend some Rp 14.5 trillion to deal with smoking-related diseases. As a comparison, the Indonesian government spends Rp 1.7 trillion a year in the health sector.

Official statistics reveal that deaths caused by smoking- related diseases accounted for between 2 to 3 percent of the total mortality rate in Indonesia in 1980. It rose to between 3 t and 4 percent, or 57,000 deaths a year in 1986.

Experts say the cause of some 25 diseases can be traced to tobacco, such as bronchitis, coronary diseases, strokes and impotence.