Tobacco kills one every six seconds

by Ananda Agalakada

The constant delay in the implementation of pictorial health warnings on tobacco packaging, a regulation unanimously approved by the Parliament, was a result of the multi-faceted efforts by the tobacco industry, a team of Medical and legal experts said.

It is clear that the packaging and labeling rules, proposed by the Health Minister and ratified by Parliament to include pictorial health warnings covering 80 percent of the pack were constantly delayed due to the interference of the industry, Sri Lanka Medical Council Chairman and former head of National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA) Prof. Carlo Fonseka said.

He was speaking at a media briefing organized by the "Jeewaka Foundation" at the Sri Lanka Press Institute last Thursday.

An appeal filed by the tobacco company against pictorial warning rule is to be taken up at courts on Monday.

Prof. Fonseka said out that tobacco kills more people in the country today than the LTTE terrorist did a few years back.

"LTTE terrorism killed around 35 to 40 people daily during the country's three decade of war against terrorism, but tobacco now kills around 55 daily and annually this is over 20,000" he pointed out while highlighting the importance of stepping up awareness to educate the public of the health harms caused due to smoking..

Dr. Lalith Chandradasa, a member of the NATA told the media that there was a purposeful intent on the part of the tobacco industry to market a product that they know fully well will harm their customers and over time will kill more than half of them.

Attorney-at-law Bashini Hettiarachchi said "Sri Lanka signed and ratified the World Health Organisation-Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC), which enlists key strategies for reduction in the demand and supply of tobacco products. Article 11 of the WHO-FCTC mandates that all countries that are parties to FCTC should display pictorial health warnings on the packs of tobacco product". UNP MP Buddhika Pathirana questioned why was there a need to go to courts when the law makers of parliament had unanimously approved the regulation of pictorial warnings.

Dr. Samadi Rajapaksa of the National Cancer Institute, Maharagama said that according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), tobacco use kills one person in every six seconds.

He said that pictorial warnings on packagings was one of the most influential modes in communicating risks of tobacco use to users. "Graphic pictorial warnings can be very helpful in decreasing tobacco use by increasing public awareness of its dangers," he said.

According to the WHO, the leading preventable cause of death, tobacco kills more than five million people every year. One tobacco death occurs every six seconds. Tobacco killed 100 million in the 20th century and if preventable measures are not taken it could kill one billion in the 21st century.