Minister denies new cigarette regulation harms public's health

Minister denies new cigarette regulation harms public's health

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Minister of Health Achmad Suyudi denied on Saturday that the
government regulation (PP) on cigarettes had been revised to
serve the producers' interests at the expense of public health.

"Instead, the revision is aimed at promoting a healthy
lifestyle and protecting citizens from the negative impacts of
smoking," Suyudi said as quoted by Antara.

The government, issued in 1999 a regulation on cigarettes
which restricts the maximum content of nicotine and tar per
cigarette to 1.5 milligrams and 20 milligrams respectively.

However, this month, the government quietly drafted a revised
regulation, which omitted the maximum content of nicotine and
tar. The revision obligated producers to merely check the
quantity of nicotine and tar in each cigarette.

Last week, a group of 18 non-governmental organizations
appealed to the government to drop the revised regulation on the
ground that it would encourage unhealthy habits.

The minister said the protesters did not read the regulation
thoroughly, as the revision required all cigarette ads and
campaigns to disclose the amount of nicotine and tar in each
cigarette and to maintain the warning label on the negative
health impacts of smoking.

"The existing regulation only required all ads to insert the
warning," he said.

Earlier, an official at the health ministry confirmed that it
had revised the 1999 regulation, although it had not been
approved by then-president Abdurrahman Wahid. The official
declined to identify who asked for the changes.

The World Health Organization has estimated that the number of
smokers in Indonesia amounted to 57 percent of the country's
population, meaning that at least 100 million Indonesians are
smokers.

The population of smokers in the world has reached 1.1 billion
people, 800 million of who reside in developing countries,
including Indonesia.