Kini Nsom
11 July 2005
If the government fully hearkens to the World Health Organisation, WHO, convention on tobacco control, then public smoking would eventually be banned in Cameroon.
After Members of Parliament, MPs, adopted the bill to that effect on July 6, the onus now rests on government; how far it will go in implementing the provisions of the convention.
The bill No 726/PJL/AN was to authorise the President of the Republic to ratify the WHO framework convention on tobacco control signed in Geneva on May 21, 2003.
According to an explanatory note, the international community signed the convention after acknowledging that the consumption of tobacco is a global problem with serious public health consequences.
The convention, therefore, represents the commitment of WHO member countries to discourage tobacco consumption which is also an environmental and economic hazard.
While defending the bill in Parliament, Public Health Minister, Urbain Olanguena Awono, said government was determined to go to any length to discourage tobacco consumption.
According to the Minister, 36 percent of the country's population is at risk of having tobacco related diseases. He said ensuring that the population is in good health, is top priority in President Paul Biya's programme.
It was within this sphere, he stated, that government has set up a group of experts to propose legislation and regulatory texts on the control of tobacco consumption in Cameroon.
Given that tobacco does not only damage the health of smokers, but also affects those who involuntarily inhale the smoke, (secondary smokers) the Minister said public smoking would be discouraged.
He said a team of experts, led by Prof. Wali Muna, was at work to map out strategies to fight tobacco consumption in all its forms. He said controlling tobacco consumption was indispensable because the right of the people to good health was a fundamental human right.
He said the measures against smoking include the curbing of aggressive advertising of cigarettes. The Minister said a successful fight against tobacco consumption needs courage because the cigarette sector has a lot of economic stakes. He, however, said government has the will to deliver the goals.
Earlier, Hon. Ndongo Djemba, MP for the South Province, expressed doubts that government would fully fight cigarette smoking, given the profits it enjoys from tobacco companies.
He said only two kilometres from the National Assembly, stands a giant cigarette company, the British American Tobacco, BAT, at Bastos that is making brisk business.
The MP also complained that cigarette banners were flying all over the country. He also asked what measures government would take to discourage the smoking of marijuana.
Reacting to these issues, the Minister said the consumption of marijuana is illegal. He said government will intensify the fight against this drug and discourage its cultivation all over the country.
According to Hon. Ndinga Ndinga, it is an unpleasant thing that kids are allowed to sell cigarettes.
"Mr. Minister, kids who sell cigarettes are potential smokers," the MP observed, calling on government to issue strict rules that will stop minors from selling cigarettes. He equally proposed that heavy punishment such as dismissal should be meted out on students who are caught smoking in school.
One MP said statistics relating to people who have died of tobacco-related diseases are quite frightening. He urged government to go ahead and ban people from smoking in public.
Tobacco-Related Diseases
Speaking to The Post, the MP for Momo Constituency, Hon. Dr. Christopher Anyangwe (MD) said tobacco-related diseases are quite alarming. He said those who inhale tobacco smoke have the same consequences as those who smoke directly. He said WHO's intention of putting forward the convention to member countries is to control and even halt the consumption of tobacco.
He also said tobacco-related diseases range from dental keries, chronic bronchitis, asthma, etc. The MP said those who smoke are prone to chest infections like pneumonia. Besides, the nicotine found in tobacco causes the destruction of cardiac muscles, the doctor said.
He said it also destroys blood vessels in the brain that leads to cardio-vascular attacks. Nicotine addiction makes the smoker to become a slave to it. In such a situation, the MP said, the victim is prone to cancer of the lungs and cancer of the kidneys.
"Tobacco consumption gives no benefit to anybody," Anyangwe said, warning that tobacco consumption has grave economic and environmental consequences on the society.
The MP for Boyo Constituency, Hon. Emmanuel Bangsi, who was once a smoker, described the WHO convention as timely. He said anything that endangers the population remains an impediment to the socio-economic development of the country.
Bangsi holds that smoking cannot be banned because tobacco companies contribute so much in the economy of the country. For the sake of diseases, he stated, it would be good for government to prohibit smoking in public places like hospitals, churches, social gatherings, etc.
The MP complained that smokers in Cameroon are very arrogant; "They smoke anywhere irrespective of whether they suffocate people with smoke or not. When someone smokes near me, I feel like vomiting," he said.
Despite the unhealthy consequences of tobacco consumption, many smokers The Post spoke to, said they were not prepared to quit.
One businessman in Yaounde, a chain smoker, told The Post that he smokes heavily when he is in problems.
Pius Aji said he drowns his sorrows and comforts himself when he smokes. Asked whether he was aware of the consequences of smoking, he said, "I know but I can't help smoking."
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