The Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) recently became the latest government agency to sign a ‘smoke-free policy declaration,’ which means that no smoking will be allowed on any of company’s premises, in the compounds, and “for at least a nine metres radius surrounding any entrance or exit,” with the company’s Human Resources Manager pledging that it would live up to the declaration. But can it really?
One hopes so, but since a policy is not law, then the best the GWI, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and the other 67 companies and agencies that have made such declarations can hope for is that the persons to whom they apply will respect them. Apart from the much publicized smoke-free zones demarcation and written messages on cigarette packages, Guyana has taken a softly-softly approach to getting the message out that cigarette smoking is a health hazard that should not be tolerated.
Guyana has not yet put in place the labelling of cigarette packages with graphic images that show the health hazards of smoking and Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy said at the signing that he would not settle for less than 50% of the graphic display of the effects of smoking on package labels. But there has been no word on when this would start. Is the government/Ministry of Health negotiating with Demerara Tobacco Company? With its parent group British American Tobacco? How are these negotiations going?
Dr Ramsammy’s fighting words to the tobacco company recently: “I say shame on you to the tobacco company!” cannot count as part of the effort to curb the ability of the tobacco company to target young people.
Words of disapproval have been uttered before to little or no effect. In fact, as Minister Ramsammy pointed out the tobacco company has continued with its “subtle messages” in its advertisements, which target young people. Disapproval will also not prevent hard-up, cash strapped sports organizations from taking sponsorship offered by the tobacco company, which as Dr Ramsammy puts it, is just a way of reaching its target group: a young new breed of smokers who will soon become addicted to its products and so increase its profit margin, keeping its shareholders – local and foreign – happy.
And the tobacco company can certainly afford the outlay to do so. Demerara Tobacco Company raked in $928 million in profit (after taxation) last year. This might not be a huge sum to its parent company, tobacco giant British American Tobacco, but it at least provides evidence that it is gaining ground in one market while losing in others.
The government must be happy too, as according to the company’s annual report, it has paid “high taxes [$2.7 billion in excise, corporation and value-added taxes for the year]” which ensured “significant returns to the national treasury.” One wonders though how much the national treasury spends on dealing with health issues related with smoking – cancers of the mouth, throat, stomach, liver, coronary and cardiovascular disease, stroke, atherosclerosis, chronic bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma, diabetes, high-blood pressure and several others. Is it more than $2.7 billion? And what of the related loss of human resources and man hours when persons fall ill? How does this weigh against the revenue collected?
Finally the burning questions (no pun intended) that must be asked are: Can the government realistically shoot down what appears to be a significant revenue stream? Or are all of the declarations of smoke-free zones staring the health minister nothing but a smoke-screen?
