The Himalayan, 26 de abril de 2011

Pledge to implement anti-tobacco bill

Added At: 2011-04-26 12:15 AM Last Updated At: 2011-04-26 12:15 AM

HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE
KATHMANDU: The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) has assured that it will implement the Tobacco Product Control and Regulatory Bill- 2010, which Parliament passed on April 11.

Health Secretary Sudha Sharma said the government was going to enforce the act effectively and would take action against those working against the spirit of the law.

The government is going to implement the bill 91 days after President Dr Ram Baran Yadav signs it and the pictorial warning rule will be implemented 180 days after the president’s signature, said Sharma at a press conference today.

She said the bill was a major public health initiative to reduce deaths caused by non-communicable diseases. Of the total mortalities caused by non-communicable diseases in the country, tobacco-related diseases like cancer, heart ailments and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases have contributed 51 per cent, she said.

Laxmi Raman Ban, director, National Health Education, Information and Communication Centre, said the country had first taken the initiative to draft the bill ten years ago.

Nepal is the first among the Asian countries to allocate 75 per cent of pictorial health warnings.

The bill has made it mandatory to allocate 75 per cent of the space on cigarette packs or wrappers for pictorial health warning.

Similarly, only licence holders are allowed to sell tobacco and children under 18 and pregnant women will not be sold such items.

The bill has banned advertisements and publicity campaigns of tobacco products in any media and gatherings.

It has also banned smoking and tobacco use in public places, work places and public vehicles. Nepal had signed World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2003 and ratified it in November 2006.

With the ratification, Nepal is bound to draft a domestic law to restrict production and trade of tobacco products.

According to MoHP, Nepal collected around Rs 3.77 billion in revenue from tobacco products last year, whereas it spent around Rs 47 billion for treatment of tobacco related diseases. In Nepal, over 25,000 people die every year due to tobacco related diseases.
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