Health Secretary Janette L. Garin recently expressed alarm that “tobacco has been identified as the primary risk factor in the Philippines for the range of noncommunicable diseases.”
“These lead to massive healthcare costs and productivity losses to our nation—smoking cost our economy more than P188 billion. To reduce the tobacco use, we must implement and support a wide range of tobacco policies, including graphic warnings on tobacco packs and increased tobacco prices that encourage more Filipinos to cut and quit,” Garin stressed.
Following the Court of Appeals’ (CA) ruling that it has no power to implement Republic Act (RA) 9211, or the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003, HealthJustice, a public health policy think tank, condemned the tobacco industry for bullying government agencies, such as the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) that strongly implement tobacco control policies.
“We commend the MMDA’s decision to continue enforcement of the ban and not be fazed by tobacco industry tactics to derail laws that protect the health of Filipinos. It is important for government agencies to have a firm stand and guard public-health laws against those that try to sabotage it,” said lawyer Irene Reyes, managing director of HealthJustice.
Reyes was citing the statement of the MMDA’s Corazon T. Jimenez that, despite the CA’s decision, “the agency will continue with the implementation of the smoking ban, it is under their mandate to safeguard the health and sanitation of the region.”
In a decision dated July 31, 2015, the CA decided in favor of the complainants and ruled that the MMDA was not deputized to implement RA 9211.
The health group expressed strong belief that complainants who are connected to a tobacco company filed the case against the MMDA.
Reyes added, “Suing government offices strongly implementing tobacco control laws is a usual tactic of the tobacco industry, not only in the country, but also around the world. If you can remember, one of the complainants against the MMDA’s smoking ban confessed to having connections with a tobacco company.”
Reyes refers to a television interview aired on August 2011, wherein one of the complainants, Anthony Clemente, admitted that he filed the case because a tobacco company promised him money. Clemente later on took back his statement and said he was just rattled and confused by the reporter’s questioning.
On Thursday during the launching of “Cigarettes are Eating You Alive” campaign, the World Lung Foundation (WLF) revealed that 10 million people die from lung disease every year, many of those deaths are preventable.
The “Cigarettes Are Eating You Alive” campaign will start to air in national television channels from August 15 to reach 40 million viewers aged 15 to 64 years. It is designed to encourage smokers to quit, and support for the Philippines’ smoke-free laws, and to support the timely implementation of the graphic health warnings on Tobacco packs by March 2016.
The campaign is spearheaded by the Department of Health and the New Vois Association of the Philippines, with support from the WLF, as part of its new anti-smoking campaign to highlight the dangers of tobacco on users and secondhand smokers.
One of the public service announcements was titled “Cigarettes Are Eating You Alive” and carries the message that smoking destroys vital organs and tissues causing conditions, such as stroke, cancer of the mouth, neck and throat.
The other video commercial was titled “Cigarettes Are Eating Your Baby Alive” and highlights the health hazards of secondhand smoke to children. The infomercial warns that exposing babies to tobacco smoke subjects them to thousands of harmful chemicals and this may contribute to a more serious condition such as sudden infant death syndrome.
NVAP President and Global Cancer Ambassador Emer Rojas said the project aims to strengthen the country’s anti-smoking campaign and raise awareness on the dangers of secondhand smoke.
“Smoking as well as secondhand smoke kills 10 Filipinos an hour. People should be warned against consuming tobacco so they don’t become its victim like me,” said Rojas, a stage 4 laryngeal cancer survivor and a former smoker who now speaks through the help of an electronic vibration machine attached to his neck.
Smoking-related diseases kill an estimated 87,600 Filipinos every year, as 40 percent of men and 8.2 percent of women consume tobacco. Deaths associated to smoking in the Philippines are higher than the average in other middle-income countries.
Rojas said children exposed to secondhand smoke at home and outside are at risk of developing lung cancer and coronary heart disease.
The Tobacco Atlas estimates that secondhand smoke increases the risks of a person contracting lung cancer by 30 percent and coronary heart disease by 25 percent.
“Tobacco contains 7,000 chemicals and 70 cancer-causing agents. If it’s harmful for adults, imagine how deadly it could be for babies and children, whose bodies are not fully developed and whose immunity to sickness are not as high as those older than them,” Rojas said.
Lung cancer is the leading type of cancer for both sexes in the Philippines. While there is no available data how many children get sick from secondhand smoke, it is estimated that around 3,000 nonsmoking adult Filipinos die of lung cancer from inhaling tobacco emission.
Rojas said the infomercials would contain graphic images that will form part of the templates to be used when tobacco companies are mandated to comply with provisions of the graphic health warnings law starting October 2015. With Mark Tarre-Trainee