Smoking costs a lot more than people think: Sujudi

Smoking costs a lot more than people think: Sujudi

JAKARTA (JP): Smoking costs far more than most people think, the Ministry of Health said on Tuesday.

"Smoking and tobacco have always been controversial," Minister of Health Sujudi remarked on the World's No Tobacco Day. "But considering that we do not only live in the present ... the costs we will have to pay for the effects of smoking are larger than we thought."

"This is what we would like to reflect on today," a statement from Sujudi asserted at a one-day discussion on the economic effects of smoking. The speech was read by the director general of public health promotion, Nyoman Kumana Rai.

Some five million Indonesian families depend on the tobacco and cigarette industries for their livelihood. In all, about 20 million people are either directly or indirectly dependent on the tobacco industry, if retailing, transportation, advertising and others sectors are considered, according to the Ministry of Health.

Last year, the government received Rp 220 billion ($100 million) in excise taxes from cigarettes.

But Sujudi said the costs for medication and treatment, the loss of productivity and jobs, the loss of income due to early deaths and the loss of time in caring for ill family members, outweigh the tangible economic benefits.

Smoking "reduces the quality of human resources" he added. "We need a sufficient quality of human resources to increase our competitiveness in the world market."

A representative from the World Health Organization, Alan D. Lopez, warned of a potentially major public health catastrophe in Indonesia unless something is done to curtail smoking.

He said there is a great misunderstanding about the dangers of tobacco because it is not a major cause of death here.

Experience shows that there is a delay of up to three decades "between the time a new generation of youths begin to smoke and the full health effects of their smoking," Lopez said.

Noting that almost two-thirds of young Indonesian men smoke, up to 13 million of the 25 million regular smokers in Indonesia could die in middle age from smoking, he said.

The anti-smoking campaign in Indonesia has been very modest. Only cinemas have succeeded in banning smoking. The Ministry of Health is the only government agency where smoking is not permitted. (anr)