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LETTER: No-smoking eateries deserve to be applauded 

Contraband cigarettes seized 

• Asian tobacco farmers sign pact to defend land, livelihood 

REPRESENTATIVES of about 30 million tobacco farmers and workers from Asian countries, including the Philippines, signed a joint declaration in Kuala Lumpur calling on their respective governments to oppose draft policy recommendations contained in the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

The recommendations which they said were being pushed by “special interest groups” in WHO’s FCTC aim to cap tobacco farming production, restrict the available land for tobacco farming, deny farmers their political and commercial rights to engage with their governments, and ban contractual relations between farmers.

Tobacco farmers from the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia gathered recently in Malaysia for a three-day Asia Tobacco Forum (ATF) in their bid to defend their land, jobs and livelihood

The forum was formally opened by YB Dato’ Hamzah Zainudin, deputy minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities of Malaysia. It was organized by the International Tobacco Growers Association (ITGA) and the Pitas, the Kelantan Tobacco Growers and Curers Association of Malaysia represented by its Chairman Norman Mohd Noor.

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RUEKEITH: Toxic puffs  

43rd Union World Conference on Lung Health to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 13-17 November 2012 

The 43rd Union World Conference on Lung Health is a 5 day conference covering the latest developments, opportunities and challenges in tuberculosis, HIV, tobacco control, lung health and non-communicable diseases.

The First Announcement is now available to download

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Description of session types

The descriptions of the various sessions that will be held at The Union World Conference on Lung Health, are now available. All sessions are to be approved by the Coordinating Committee on Scientific Activities (CCSA). In order to preserve the quality of conference programme and manage the very large number of submissions, the Committee uses a combination of these general criteria in its selection process.

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• Asian farmers to meet on WHO plan to phase out tobacco-growing 

TOBACCO farmers from China, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia will gather on March 28-30 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to protest against a recommendation by the World Health Organization (WHO) to phase out tobacco growing without providing solutions to those who will lose their jobs.

They said  under the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), governments that signed the treaty 10 years ago committed to help tobacco farmers find viable alternatives to growing tobacco, with the assumption that demand would decline over time.

Today, they said, WHO gave in to years of pressure from anti-tobacco nongovernmental organizations and issued recommendations which have taken a radically different direction—phase out tobacco growing without finding viable solutions to their livelihoods.

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Smoking habit snuffed out with help of anti-smoking clinic 

• Factors affecting commencement and cessation of smoking behaviour in Malaysian adults 

Results

Males had a much higher prevalence of the habit (61.7%) as compared to females (5.8%). Cessation was found to be most common among the Chinese and those regularly consuming alcoholic beverages. Kaplan-Meier plot shows that although males are more likely to start smoking, females are found to be less likely to stop. History of betel quid chewing and alcohol consumption significantly increase the likelihood of commencement (p < 0.0001), while cessation was least likely among Indians, current quid chewers and kretek users (p < 0.01).

Conclusions

Gender, ethnicity, history of quid chewing and alcohol consumption have been found to be important factors in smoking commencement; while ethnicity, betel quid chewing and type of tobacco smoked influences cessation.

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World's Leading Tobacco Control Conference Opens In Singapore 

In a major milestone for Singapore in the fight against smoking, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong officially opened the 15th World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCTOH) here in the presence of some of the world's most influential leaders.

Present at the opening ceremony were World Health Organisation director-general Dr Margaret Chan, Asean secretary-general Dr Surin Pitsuwan, health ministers and national representatives from Asean countries, Australia, Fiji, Norway, Russia, Turkey and the U.S. as well as renowned technical experts Prof Judith Mackay, Prof Sir Richard Peto and Dr Prakash C. Gupta.

The conference, carrying the theme "Towards a Tobacco-Free World: Planning Globally, Acting Locally", is being held at the Suntec City Convention Centre from today to March 24. It is organised by the Singapore Health Promotion Board and supported by the Ministry of Health.

Gan, in opening the conference, said Singapore, as a signatory to WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), is keen to establish, engage and support local, regional and international partnerships for tobacco control.

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• Health Ministry looking at cutting nicotine in cigarettes by half 

Trader fined RM3,000 for selling illicit fags in landmark case  

A trader at the STC Bus Terminal in Sri Aman was fined RM3,000 after being found guilty by a magistrates’ court in Sri Aman of selling illicit cigarettes.

According to State Health Department assistant director (Legal Affairs & Prosecution) Samuil-Ashton Satu, this was the first case of a trader being brought to court for selling cigarettes without pictorial health warnings.

He said this could be considered a landmark case because there were other similar cases still pending in court.

On the case in Sri Aman, he said an enforcement operation on Oct 17 last year found the trader, Foo Luk Tuan, selling the cigarettes at between RM1.30 and RM3.50 per packet, which was far below the minimum price of RM7 approved by the Ministry of Health.

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Impact of connecting tuberculosis directly observed therapy short-course with smoking cessation on health-related quality of life 

Methods

This was a multi-centered non-randomized controlled study involving 120 TB patients who were current smokers at the time of TB diagnosis in Malaysia. . . .

Conclusions

This study supports the evidence that an integrated TB-tobacco treatment strategy could potentially improve overall quality of life outcomes among TB patients who are smokers.

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LETTER: It's time we bring back 'tak nak' campaign 

I noted with interest that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is embarking on an anti-drug campaign for youths (The Star, Feb 14).

May I humbly suggest that he revives the anti-smoking campaign, too?

Being a medical doctor, he would be the ideal icon for the youths. I know that a school in Bukit Beruntung, Selangor, has a mural painting of "tak nak rokok". My niece painted it.

Another smoker cited work stress as another reason as some bosses would send e-mails pertaining to work during weekends.

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Don't smoke in front of children, says Raja Muda of Perlis  

The Raja Muda of Perlis, Tuanku Syed Faizuddin Putra Jamalullail urged smokers not to smoke in front of their children or ask them buy cigarettes for them.

Better still, he said, they should refrain from smoking because the habit is detrimental to their health and to the people around them.

He said parents should show good exemple to their children.

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• Health Ministry To Intensify Quit Smoking Campaign This Year 

The Health Ministy will intensify the stop smoking campaign this year in its bid to reduce the number of smokers in this country.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said currently, 20 per cent of Malaysia's 28 million population were smokers.

He said as part of the campaign, all patients at government clinics and hospitals who are smokers will be encouraged to undergo a quit-smoking programme.

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