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CKohalyk
19th February 2003, 01:27
Govt's tobacco policy roasted

Foot-dragging over WTO convention draws international criticism

Yomiuri Shimbun-

As the sixth and final round of negotiations for the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) began in Geneva Monday, Japan continued to be the focus of international criticism for the high proportion of smokers among its population and its reluctance to impose stricter controls over tobacco.

Criticism initially surfaced in October in Geneva, where the fifth round of FCTC negotiations were being held. Nongovernmental organizations at a joint press conference accused Japan--along with the United States and Germany--of putting priority on the interests of tobacco companies instead of human health.

"Japan, the United States and Germany are the three major stumbling blocks in the current negotiations to successfully reaching a global health treaty," an NGO official said.

The convention currently under debate is part of a global strategy under World Health Organization auspices to reduce tobacco-related deaths and disease worldwide.

When in force, the treaty will include international rules on tobacco taxation, smoking prevention and treatment, as well as illicit trade, advertising and promotion, and product regulation.

The origins of the treaty date back to 1999, when the FCTC was adopted unanimously during a WHO general assembly meeting. At the assembly, member countries were called on to work together to reduce the number of tobacco-related deaths worldwide, which then totaled 4.9 million annually.

The FCTC will be the first such international treaty on public health, and countries have been targeting the upcoming WHO general meeting scheduled for May for the treaty's adoption.

But in October, Japan was the only nation among 192 member countries not to endorse the treaty's purpose and intention--namely, to reduce the consumption of tobacco worldwide.

One reason for this is that the Japanese government holds two-thirds of the shares of Japan Tobacco Inc., the world's third-largest tobacco company.

"Japan not only lags behind other countries in terms of tobacco regulation, it remains primitive in its thinking (concerning the issue of smoking and health)," said Eitaka Tsuboi, president of the Japan Medical Association.

According to the association, 49 percent of the adult male population in Japan continues to smoke, topping the United States and Britain, where the figure is 28 percent, and Sweden, where it is 17 percent.

Not only does Japan have the highest adult male smoking rate among industrialized countries, it actively encourages its citizens to consume tobacco.

Cigarette prices in Japan are half to two-thirds the price of tobacco products in European countries. Tobacco taxes in Japan are about 60 percent, compared with 70 percent to 80 percent in most industrialized countries.

Japan and Germany are almost the only countries in the world where cigarettes can be bought easily from vending machines.

Warnings on cigarette packages are not straightforward in Japan, whereas in many other countries they are clear and direct.

For example, Australian smokers are warned they could be killed by the habit, while in Canada, cigarette purchasers are told outright that smoking causes cancer.

In Japan, citizens are told only that their health could be endangered by smoking.

The U.S. death rate for adult males due to lung cancer dropped as a result of the U.S. government's strenuous efforts to discourage smoking. In Japan, lung cancer is now the most common type of cancer death, surpassing stomach cancer.

Japan, instead of becoming a focus for criticism for blocking the WHO talks, could take advantage of the global treaty and worldwide antismoking campaign to promote its lagging public health policy.

However, the government has been stubborn in adhering to its policy of not discouraging smoking, as can be seen in its insistence in using labels like "mild" and "light" for domestically produced cigarettes, in defiance of a proposal to ban misleading brand names that was included in a draft treaty in October.

Thus, Japan's calls for a treaty "with a level of flexibility so that various countries can participate" have been criticized as conflicting with the spirit of the treaty, the final draft of which was announced in January.

Japan's ambivalent stance as a country whose citizens' health is undermined by the effects of tobacco while the government simultaneously relies on tobacco taxes as a major source of revenue has complicated the situation.

According to the Tobacco Industries Law, which aims to promote the growth of the domestic tobacco industry, the government is expected to encourage the production and sale of tobacco to ensure a stable inflow of tax revenue.

Even after the Tobacco and Salt Public Corporation was privatized in 1985, the government still owned two-thirds of JT shares, giving it ample reason not to discourage tobacco consumption.

In October, just before the fifth round of WHO talks in Geneva, the Finance Ministry's Fiscal System Council compiled an interim report on smoking and related health issues.

In the report, the government argued that tobacco and cigarettes were items of preference, and the decision as to whether to consume them should be left to each individual, stressing that the state had no intention of discouraging the products' consumption or banning them completely.

Concerning the use of euphemisms in cigarette names, including words like "mild" and "light," the government argued that countries should be free to name their products whatever they liked and refused to accept any international regulatory code.

In contrast, a panel of medical and scientific experts submitted to the health, labor and welfare minister a proposal in December that stated the panel felt it necessary to discourage smoking among the national population and suppress overall tobacco consumption.

In other words, the government is now split over the tobacco problem.

While the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry actively supports the international health treaty, the Finance Ministry is apparently reluctant to do so.

The Japan Medical Association in January submitted a request to ministers involved in the issue to oppose the Finance Ministry's stance on the WHO treaty.

A group of politicians who support promoting a ban on smoking, consisting of 90 Diet members, did the same Friday last week, urging the government to reconsider so as not to damage the treaty.

"I think the Japanese people were infuriated by the way the United States refused to accept the Kyoto Protocol on the world environment," said Tsuboi, hinting that the United States may have inadvertently set an example for Japan to behave similarly.

If a detailed health treaty with specific regulations is signed by member countries, JT may no longer be able to sell its popular Mild Seven cigarettes and may even be banned from sponsoring major sporting events.

Nobuko Nakano, who heads an antismoking NGO that addresses women's health issues, is a close observer of the Geneva negotiations.

"We can't afford to let the treaty retrogress. We're hoping (the Geneva convention) will come up with concrete, practical results, as it could lead to effective antismoking campaigns in Japan," Nakano said.

Kimpatsu
19th February 2003, 01:36
The actual warning on Japanese cigarette packets reads (in translation):
"There is a risk to your health if you smoke too much.
Take care to be considerate of others when smoking."
(The second sentence is a reminder to discard butts in trash cans, not on the pavement.)
The most telling phrase there is "smoke too much." It implies that smoking in moderation (a pack a day?) will have no adverse health effects. This is an entirely cynical ploy for financial reasons; as the article says, the majority shareholder in Japanese tobacco is the government.
Now, I wonder if we can persuade the Japanese government to invest in marijuana farms... ;)

Steve Williams
19th February 2003, 02:03
Just an aside about tobacco and advertising.....


We now have a TOTAL BAN on cigarette and tobacco advertising in the UK.

That includes TV (which has been in place for years) but now also adverts on billboards and in magazines and newspapers....

It went into force last week.

renfield_kuroda
19th February 2003, 02:14
There is supposedly no direct cigarette adverts in Japan, but instead on TV we have JT (Japan Tobacco) "delight" adds:
* a man at the zoo see three children draw pictures of an elephant (delight!)
* a man at a flea market buys a nice trinket, it starts to rain so he helps the woman load her stuff into her car (delight!)
* a serious of modern people talk about their jobs; "I make cars run more efficiently", "I teach children", "I'm working on a cigarette with less smoke", "I build bridges"...(delight!)

Then of course there's the "don't litter" JT ads:
* Man in the middle of a pristine forest considerately throws his butt into the ashtray pouch he carries with him
* Man running for the train, late for work, realizes he forgot his ashtray pouch, turns around to get it
* Man sitting in park thinking out loud to himself about how he has no self-esteem, but at least he doesn't litter his butts all over

Regards,
renfield kuroda