WHO calls for total ban on tobacco adverts

THE World Health Organization (WHO) has called for a total ban on all tobacco advertising , saying industry advertising strategy was enticing more young people to rake up smoking. WHO has said smoking poses health devastation and asked governments, particularly in the developing countries top impose a ban to save the lives of young people including women targeted by tobacco advertising. WHO said recently during World Tobacco Day that it was focusing its campaign this year on youths, citing statistics that show most young people start smoking before the age of 18 years.

All billboards advertisements carrying pictures of various brands of cigarettes manufactured b y Tanzania Cigarette Company (TCC) bearing a strong warning “Smoking is dangerous and harmful to human life” these are written in Kiswahili language. Billboards like these ones which are scattered within the city of Dar es Salaam and in other cities and towns in upcountry regions, are such adverts which have been prohibited by WHO.

Under the Tanzania Tobacco products (Regulations) Act 2003, smoking in public is banned, but anti-smoking campaigners have expressed concerns saying the Act has several loopholes including continuing to allow cigarette companies to advertise their products. The Tobacco industry employs predatory marketing strategies to get young people hooked to their addictive drug. But comprehensive advertising bans do work reducing tobacco consumption by up to 16 percent in countries that have already their legislative step, says Dr. Douglas Bettcher, Director of Agency’s Tobacco Force Initiative in a statement issued recently in New York-USA. Dr. Bettcher said only a total ban was acceptable because when one form of advertising is banned, the tobacco industry simply shifts its vast resources to another channel such as the movies, the internet, fashion magazines or music and sports venues. WHO Director-General Margaret Chan described this industry as a complex tobacco marketing that caught the desire of millions of young people worldwide with potentially devastating health consequences.

A portrait of a juvenile in an advert that warns smoking is dangerous and harmful to human life. Billboards like this one has been strongly prohibited by the WHO and those nations like Tanzania which still continues to promote them despite their ban are strongly condemned by WHO.

Recent studies have indicated that the more young people are exposed to tobacco advertising, the more they are likely to take up smoking according to WHO. A global survey found that over half of 13 to 15 year old youths reported seeing billboard advertisements for cigarettes in the past months. Advertising is becoming more aggressive in the developing world where bans ion tobacco marketing are less likely. Around the world, girls and young women are also an increasing target of the industry. In a different statement WHO said contrary to claims by advertisers, the electronic cigarette-battery powered product usually made of stainless steel and resembling an actual cigarette has not been proven a sale or legitimate nicotine replacement therapy for smokers trying to quit. Marketers have claimed that the product helps smokers break their additions to tobacco with some even going so far as to imply that WHO views it as a legitimate nicotine replacement therapy like nicotine gum, lozenges and patches.