New smoking regulations to be enacted this month

JAKARTA (JP): The government's new regulation on smoking is in its final draft, the director general of food and drug supervision at the Ministry of Health, Sampurno, said on Thursday.

He said that the regulation, expected to be enacted later this month, would cover, among other things, increasing the number of smoke-free areas in the country and guidelines for the placement of more effective warning labels on cigarette packages.

The regulation will also include restrictions on cigarette advertisements and the maximum content of tar and nicotine in cigarettes.

"Currently, smoke-free areas in Jakarta include the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Home Affairs and a few other ministries," Sampurno said on the sidelines of a seminar on setting healthy examples in the development of Indonesian cities.

Sampurno said that he could not give details on the number of smoke-free areas nationwide or how many more areas would be declared smoke-free in the new regulation.

"We would like this nation to be like Singapore, where smoking is not permitted in restaurants, schools and certain other places."

Sampurno said that the regulation was "necessary" for the nation's future.

He cited as an example a total cost of Rp 14 trillion (US$1.5 billion) to treat smoking related ailments and diseases in 1990.

"The state budget allocates an average of one-eighth of that figure annually for the Ministry of Health," he said.

"Worse, the entire population of the country spends only one- third of that figure every year for all other health problems."

Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) in May 1998 revealed that worldwide, at least 10,000 deaths each day were linked to cigarette smoking.

"With the way things are going, it's estimated that 10 million people will die worldwide every year between the year 2020 and 2030 of smoking related diseases. Of those deaths, seven million will take place in developing countries," Sampurno said, quoting the WHO data.

He added that there were currently an estimated 1.1 billion smokers worldwide. About 366 million smokers are under 15 years of age, while 800 million smokers come from developing countries.

Meanwhile, data from a survey conducted in 14 Indonesian provinces last year stated that 59.04 percent of males and 4.83 percent of females above 10 years of age smoked a minimum of one cigarette a day during a span of at least three months.

It also revealed that an average of 10 cigarettes a day were smoked by each male and three by each female.

According to data from the British Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health, a nonsmoker who breathes in secondhand smoke each day is 30 percent more likely than a nonsmoker who lives in a smoke-free environment to get cancer.

"This also includes lung cancer. A nonsmoker can also suffer from heart problems through no fault of his or her own," the data stated.

Nicotine, it stated, was addictive and contained poisonous substances which caused, among other things, lung cancer, severe breathing problems, coronary heart disease, hypertension, pregnancy problems and the birth of underweight babies. (ylt)