The New Straits Times, August 5, 2001
By Professor Dzulkifli Abdul Razak
RECENTLY, another high ranking politician in the Health Ministry mentioned that the Government will soon tighten control on cigarette promotion, including the ban on various forms of tobacco advertising.
This sounds like a familiar promise that remained unfulfilled at least a decade now.
All the while, there may be insufficient compelling reasons to urgently act on the promise, given the intensity of tobacco-lobbying activities, but not any more.
A columnist in the Boston Globe newspaper recently wrote: "Tobacco companies used to deny that cigarettes killed people. Now they brag about it." This seems to be yet another good piece of clue as to what makes the tobacco companies tick, and who they really are! Certainly this is a good reason to fulfil that long overdue promise.
The tobacco industry of late has been trying its level best to build up a new image, especially after the many court cases brought against members of the industry.
In their defence, they often blurred out how "responsible" they have been in contributing to national economies. For Malaysia, the figure allegedly is about RM1.3 billion.
Such seemingly large figure could convince many that the companies are indeed "good" corporate citizens, and thus should be allowed a free rein in promoting their deadly products.
In a report distributed in the Czech Republic recently, Philip Morris, the world's largest tobacco company, took another line in attempting to show that it is actually helping the national economy.
Its economic analysis (http://cnnfn.cnn.com/2001/07/16/companies/czech_morris/index.htm) concluded that cigarettes are not a drain on the Czech budget.
As a matter of fact, in part "the Government saves money on health care, pensions and housing when smokers die prematurely".
In addition, the study found that the so-called financial benefits to the Czech Government based on incomes from cigarettes outweigh not only costs of health care, but also that of lost working days and fires triggered by cigarettes (NST, July 24). In other words, the study showed "positive effects", albeit indirectly, of early deaths induced by cigarette smoking.
This has elicited a number of shock responses from wide ranging audiences, including the tobacco company itself. Studies planned for similar views in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia have to be cancelled following the revealing conclusion.
As one aide to a senior US Democratic senator puts it: it is "just more evidence that the tobacco industry has not changed" in its outlook despite the millions poured to polish its dented image as an "industrial scum", a label given by host Bill Maher on ABC show Politically Incorrect.
The study was commissioned by Philip Morris itself, reportedly in anticipation of a debate over excisetax increases on cigarettes in the Czech Republic.
The World Health Organisation and many public health experts have always advocated price increase as an effective way to check demand for cigarettes.
In an attempt to counter this argument, the study weighs the costs of tobacco use, such as medical care for the sick smokers, against benefits including revenue from excise taxes on cigarettes.
It found a net gain of more than US$147 million from smoking, in 1999 for the Czech Government (AWSJ, July 27-29).
Given the very rampant tobacco promotional activities in this country, coupled with a relatively low excise-tax placed on tobacco products, this conclusion is indeed scary.
It is business as usual in Malaysia for the tobacco industry despite the many well-documented negative impacts on health care.
Foremost in one's mind is whether the Government in condoning this is indeed trying to "save" at the expense of the lives of its own citizens as reflected in the Czech report.
While one would like to believe that the Government, the Ministry of Health in particular, is more caring in this case; one could only be sure if the Government, this time around, is prepared to live up to its long-time promise to stringently control tobacco promotion.
