Tobacco industry accused of delaying passage of picture-based health warning on cigarette packs » PinoyPress

Tobacco industry accused of delaying passage of picture-based health warning on cigarette packs » PinoyPress

I was reminded of this article by a fellow advocate, who, while reminding a smoker that it was illegal to smoke in certain public places, was told by that smoker "Why? Who do you think you are? I'm a policeman."
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25 July 2008

Tobacco industry accused of delaying passage of picture-based health warning on cigarette packs

Reminiscent of the House deliberation on the Cheaper Medicines bill, the health alliance against smoking, in a statement today says, some legislators are trying to delay the passage of the public health legislation on tobacco regulation by using the quorum issue during the committee hearing Tuesday.

Ifugao Rep. Solomon R. Chungalao threatened to question the quorum of the meeting of the Committee on Health Tuesday even before Committee Chair Arthur Pingoy has called the meeting to order. Rep. Chugalao said he will move for the adjournment of the meeting unless the committee defers the deliberation on House Bill 3364, or the Picture-Based Health Warning Bill. His motion was seconded by APEC Party list Rep. Edgar Valdez.

“We were shocked by the manner by which the tobacco industry has used their powers to block the passage of this public health measure that aims to improve the lives and health of the Filipinos. We were further stunned by the fact that Rep. Chungalao left the committee meeting as soon as he got his wish.,” said Dr. Maricar Limpin, Executive Director of Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance-Philippines (FCAP).

According to Limpin, the motion was upheld by the committee and successfully delayed the committee deliberation of the bill until next week.

“We understand the importance of the other health bills in the agenda. But there seems to be a double standard when the Picture-Based Health Warning Bill was singled out. A bigger hand must be working on these as the tobacco industry has been doing everything in their powers to intervene, even in other countries,” Limpin added.

Voice of the voiceless

FCAP said the members of the Philippine Laryngectomee Club, those who lost their vocal chords due to smoking and passive smoking came and were ready to speak, but the tobacco industry will not give them a chance.

“It’s terrible, very unfair. What is the use of prolonging the deliberation of the bill? We’re only asking for appropriating a portion of the cigarette packs to print the graphic and more real dangers of smoking,” said Elizabeth Pomer, a member of the Stroke Survivors Society, herself a former smoker until she suffered a stroke in 1999.

Plot thickens

The incident in Tuesday’s committee hearing further thickened when APEC Rep. Valdez reprimanded Dr. Ulysses Dorotheo, Program Manager of Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) and warned he will block the passage of the bill.

According to Dorotheo, he called the attention of Rep. Valdez earlier, before the committee meeting started because the legislator was smoking inside the Mitra building, in the House of Representatives, the area being a non-smoking by law.

“The legislator was definitely offended by my action and used the bill to exact revenge. This was surely not a public service. The Filipino people should learn from this experience, especially when they elect their representatives to the honorable halls of Congress,” said Dorotheo.

Dorotheo said Article 5.3 of the international public health treaty law, Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), of which the Philippines is a signatory, warns governments to be wary of tobacco industry’s vested interest to undermine health policies every step of the way.

“The industry’s lobbying and corruption done in other countries reflect the character of the legislators who will speak for the tobacco industry,” added Dorotheo.

Dorotheo, Limpin and Pomer were among the resource persons in the committee hearing yesterday.

Officials of the Department of Health also attended to testify on the impact on public health of tobacco-related diseases. The DOH published a full page ad yesterday in relation to this bill.

Rep. Arthur Pingoy, Chair of the Committee on Health scheduled the next meeting on May 21, Wednesday. (end)

No to the RECTOmized sin tax bill !

As chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, Sen. Ralph Recto sponsored a substitute bill on Tuesday that appears to have been written by the sin tax industries.

In his presentation, Recto claims that ordinary Filipinos (not the industry) will suffer because of high taxes and that smuggling will worsen because of high taxes, despite the scientific evidence against these industry-propelled myths.  He then proposes a 121% tax increase in 2013 for low-priced cigarette brands, which in reality translates to only 3.28 pesos per pack or 16 centavos per stick.  For more "expensive" brands, it is only a 10-centavo per stick tax increase.  This is ridiculous, as the industry can easily absorb the tax increase to keep prices low, thus having absolutely no impact on consumption; people will continue to smoke because it will remain cheap to do so.

According to WHO, tobacco will kill one BILLION people this century, mostly in low and middle-income countries. Tobacco is an equal opportunity killer and is thus a non-partisan issue. Regardless of your political affiliation, tell our politicians running in the 2013 elections not to take tobacco money and find out where they stand on the issue. Will they be a part of the global tobacco epidemic or part of the solution?

Tobacco companies are not normal corporations and should not be considered "stakeholders" in tobacco control. They are the problem, not part of the solution. They are pariahs and should not be writing tobacco control policy or tobacco tax laws in the Philippines or any other country.

Dovil's Blog: A Blog of Dovil: BATNZ - It Worries and it Cares!

This is hilarious, but to the point! Now that NZ is strongly considering plain packaging of tobacco products, BAT NZ has started a multi-million dollar campaign against it. Read on!

TUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2012

BATNZ - It Worries and it Cares!

British and American Tobacco is really worried at the moment. Not about the people they're killing, or their profit margins, but about principles and the law. See, all they're concerned about is that their copyright is protected, not that once the mystique is gone from the years they've spent up building up their brands that their product will be reduced to what it actually is, a pack of paper tubes stuffed with an addictive substance that will make you ill and shorten your lifespan. That would be crazy talk.

From their website:

We are strongly opposed to the plain packaging of tobacco products and call on the Government to reject the proposal. Below is an overview of why. 

There’s no proof that plain packaging would reduce smoking rates in New Zealand.
Absolutely! That's why they're spending hundreds and thousands of dollars fighting this because they don't want something that may not work being implemented. They want to make sure that whatever comes into force has been proven to reduce demand of their product, that's just logical. And after all, if something hasn't been proven it should never be done and the cultural and social evolution of humankind must be immediately ground to a halt.

Intellectual property is one of the most valuable assets of any business. Our brands are our intellectual property, which we have created and in which we have invested. Plain packaging would deprive us of the right to use our brands.
First of all, while studies have shown links between tobacco and brain damage, they're not talking about that kind of intellectual property, they're talking about the legal right of ownership to a brand by a company, and we all know that things are more important than people. We must protect brands because without them what kind of world would we live in? Not one that I want to be in, that's for sure.

Plain packaging would infringe New Zealand’s international obligations, damage its strong trading reputation and expose the country to legal challenges.
The tobacco industry doesn't WANT to hit us, you've got to understand that baby, but the way you're acting, with your parliamentary supremacy and your laws, you're giving them no choice. It's not them, it's us, and they will legal challenge us even though they don't want to because we've got to see reason. They will be crying while they legally challenge us around the courtroom, and I hope you're happy.

Plain packaging would make packs easier to counterfeit. A growth in the illegal market would reduce the Government’s excise revenue, expose New Zealand consumers to cheap, low quality, unregulated tobacco products, and fuel a rise in criminal activity.
You've got to agree, that is incredibly refreshing to see Big Business concerned about the taxation revenue stream to Government (is that an offer to pay more I detect? SO nice!), but that they're also worried that smokers will get a product that is cheap and low quality which would, I don't know, make them sick? Kill them? They are simply worried for us, can't we understand that?

If plain packaging is implemented, adult consumers would no longer have the freedom to choose based on branding. This could force the industry to compete on price, making cigarettes more affordable and frustrating the stated aim of plain packaging.
This isn't a company worried about market share, this is a company wanting to make sure that fundamental basic liberties, including freedom of choice, are kept. From here on in nicotine and other addictive substances will be removed from their product so that smokers will now have the true freedom of choice whether to stop smoking or not. Just kidding!

Australia is the only country to have passed plain packaging legislation. Other countries, such as Canada, have looked at plain packaging and decided not to introduce the measure.
I like this. Going for the competitive country angle. Who do you want to be more like, New Zealand? Australia or Canada? ONE OF THESE COUNTRIES ONCE BOWLED UNDERARM IN A GAME OF CRICKET. I rest my case.

We have invested in our brands over many years and have a responsibility to our shareholders to do everything we can to defend our right to use them.
See, again? Worried about everyone else but themselves. Take a second to worry about the shareholders, these poor people who put their money in to tobacco, just wanted to profit off an industry that causes the premature deaths of half their users. Those poor shareholding bastards.

Plain packaging, once introduced, is unlikely to be limited to tobacco products. Which products will be next?
GAY MARRIAGE! D: Sorry, I got my slippery slope fear arguments mixed up. It'll probably be medicine for babies in plain packaging and medications will get mixed up and thousands of NZ babies will die. And it all started here, folks. They warned us, but did we listen? What will we tell our grandchildren. Oh, right, we just killed them all by putting cigarettes into plain packaging.

Vanguard: Sex, Lies & Cigarettes

‎"Sex, Lies and Cigarettes" may be the hardest hitting video EVER on how the tobacco industry is targeting and chemically enslaving the world's poorest children. It features Philip Morris. 

It is headlined on WhyQuit's main page: www.http://WhyQuit.com/. This is a golden opportunity for tobacco control to aid this video in hopefully going viral, so that it receive due focus and attention by the world's media. 

The video now has over 260,000 YouTube views. On behalf of the world's children, please consider sharing the video's link on your website, emailing list, and via social media such as FaceBook and Twitter.



Help us end the deception.  Help us save our youths and their future.

Beware: Tobacco industry is anti-poor but pretends otherwise.

It's been a while since my last post, but no excuses.  I'll just get to the point: ang kakapal talaga ng mga mukha ng ilang mga kongresista.  Still they refer to themselves as "honorable" congressmen/women.

I'm referring to the supposed "consolidated" bill that Rep. Eric Singson, Jr. (Ilocos Sur) and nine other supposed representatives of the Filipino people railroaded last January 30 through the National Internal Revenue subcommittee (chaired by Singson) under the Ways and Means Committee of the Lower House.

This substitute bill consolidates the versions of Singson and Rep. Hermilando Mandanas (Batangas) but intentionally excludes the versions that seek to implement genuine reforms, those of Rep. Henedina Abad (Batanes) and Rep. Neil Tupas, as well as the administration bill filed by Rep. Joseph Emilio Abaya (Cavite), which is the same as the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) sin tax reform bill.  In summary, Singson's substitute bill provides for only minimal tax increases, maintains the current cumbersome multi-tiered tax system, and is not indexed to inflation, all of which will neither discourage consumption by the poor or young people nor provide substantial revenues to government.  It is very obviously a pro-tobacco-industry bill.

As we all know, the tobacco industry's goal is to make as much profit as possible by making, promoting, and selling a product that is addictive, harmful to health and the environment, and causes disability and premature death.  The substitute bill of Singson allows the tobacco industry to continue its "business as usual" of victimizing more of our fellow Filipinos, especially the poor who cannot afford to become sick, pay for healthcare, or lose their jobs because of ill health/disability.

For a more detailed discussion, I refer you to AER's op-ed "Singson’s Sin Tax Bill: Anti-Reform, Anti-Poor", available on AER's website or on Business World

Thankfully, the Ways and Means Committee, led by its chair, Rep. Isidro Ungab (Davao), wisely rejected this substitute bill because of many questions it raised, as well as the lack of consultation of other authors such as Rep. Abad.