In a rare media interview, Steve Rush, general manager of British American Tobacco New Zealand, agreed smoking was harmful and that it should be regulated.

But he said just because a regulation is anti-tobacco, doesn’t make it good policy.

The powerful tobacco company has launched a campaign to persuade the government against plain cigarette packaging, a move already underway in Australia.

New Zealand already had “a very comprehensive” tobacco control policy in place, Rush said, and the Government had to examine the efficacy of the new proposals before “blindly copying” Australia.

The industry had felt the brunt of regulation for more than 20 years, he said, including banning tobacco advertising, sponsorship and office workplace smoking in 1990.

Then in 1997, packs of fewer than 20 cigarettes and loose tobacco pouches were banned, followed by a full ban on smoking in restaurants, pubs, clubs, factories, schools and the like in 2003. Graphic health warnings were introduced in 2008 and a programme of three 10 per cent excise increases above the CPI over three years came in 2010.

A new law banning the display of tobacco came into force last month.

The High Court in Australia last week ruled that plain packaging legislation did not contravene the Australian constitution. Its plain packaging policy is due to take effect in October. A consultation document on a similar proposal for New Zealand was released last month but the policy is under a cloud of probable legal action.

British American Tobacco is preparing submissions to put to Government in October.

Rush said plain packaging diminished intellectual property rights at the expense of New Zealand brands and his company will highlight the impact this proposal may have on international trade and the “troubling precedent” its sets for the wider economy.

There were real dangers, too, he claimed that the proposal could foster illegal trade and make tobacco more affordable, counter to the Government’s objectives.

“Removing the rights of a legal business to use their own branding would have repercussions far wider than tobacco,” he said.

The listed London-based British American Tobacco Group is currently ranked eighth on the FTSE-100. British American Tobacco New Zealand is the country’s largest tobacco company, with a 72 per cent market share.

Its brands include Dunhill, Lucky Strike, Benson and Hedges, Rothmans, Pall Mall and Holiday and roll-your-own tobacco Port Royal and Park Drive.

Last year BATNZ paid $875.1 million in excise and GST along with company taxes of $47.1m  – some 1.8 per cent of all government tax revenues, it claimed.

By Nick Krause

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The Uganda Tobacco Control Bill 2011 was initially presented before parliament in December 2011 as a private members bill by Dr Chris Baryomunsi. Deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanyah referred the bill back for re-drafting.

BAT Uganda has made unsolicited comments about the proposed bill through press reports in Daily Monitor (May 31, 2012 and July 9, 2012) and the Independent (July 11, 2012) ,The New Vision (April 2, 2012).  All these articles bear the handprint of BAT since they carry the same carefully choreographed message, no matter who is being interviewed.

The press reports in question fail the balance test for any Journalist worth their name and the Ugandan public is being fed with a grossly imbalanced picture on the need for a Tobacco control law.

They are quick to promote how the tobacco industry, which the proposed bill will purportedly curtail, is economically indispensable to Uganda as a major contributor of government tax revenue and facilitator of tobacco farmers’ livelihoods.

What the articles fail to report is the following:

Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of death in the world today. Tobacco claims more lives globally than HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and malaria combined. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), unless urgent action is taken, tobacco could kill one billion people during this century.

“Tobacco use is the only risk factor associated with all major non-communicable diseases such as lung cancer, diabetes and  heart diseases. It is a risk factor for six out of eight leading causes of death, globally” said Dr Douglas Bettcher, Head of WHO’s Tobacco-Free Initiative.

Although the Uganda tobacco industry is keen to highlight their economic importance, they are not telling Ugandans the whole story.

Despite their self-reported contribution of Shs 60 billion in annual tax revenue, the Uganda Cancer Institute recently made a request of over Shs 100 billion to treat cancer, including tobacco-use associated cancers.

A World Bank study shows that for every dollar earned as tax revenue on tobacco products, three are spent on treating tobacco-related illnesses.

Another study conducted at Mulago Hospital shows that 75% of patients with oral cancer had a history of smoking, with the number of years of smoking ranging from 2-33 years, according to a 2008 study report by Fredrick Musoke of Makerere University.

In a research we are conducting, preliminary results show that a significant percentage of patients attending the Uganda Heart Institute at Mulago Hospital have a history of Tobacco use.

And that story on tax revenue on tobacco products?

‘’It is not the tobacco companies which pay tobacco taxes, it is the smokers,’’ counters Dr Sheila Ndyanabangi, who argues that taxes on tobacco are simply passed on to consumers.

Tobacco growing farmers in the districts of Arua, Kanungu and Hoima are some of the poorest people in Uganda. President Museveni, while visiting Arua District recently, was astonished at the poverty levels among tobacco-growing farmers there and publicly commented on it. Perhaps it is not so surprising that MPs from Tobacco-growing districts are some of the most passionate Tobacco control advocates, pushing for alternative livelihoods for their constituents.

In June 2007, Uganda ratified the Framework convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), a set of internationally-agreed strategies for tobacco control that has the force of international law. The FCTC calls for a ban on advertising of tobacco products, the display of graphic warnings on cigarette packs, an increase in tobacco taxes and promotion of alternatives to tobacco farming.

According to Rachel Kitonyo, a Kenyan working with the Africa Tobacco Control Consortium,  Uganda is out of step with other East African countries such as Tanzania and Kenya. Kenya  passed a Tobacco control law in 2007).

The drafting process of the Tobacco Control Bill 2011 is now almost complete and Dr Baryomunsi is expected to table it before Parliament in the coming weeks.

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By Henry Zakumumpa, Treasurer, Uganda National Tobacco Control Association

See this article at its original location in The Independent >