By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Staff Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

LEGISLATION to establish an indoor smoking ban is before Cabinet, acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Delon Brennen confirmed yesterday.

Proposed regulations come as the country nears the end of a five-year window to honour the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), a treaty signed with the World Health Organisation in 2009.

Dr Brennen confirmed that legislation is in compliance with the treaty, which also calls for an advertising ban for tobacco products, and the removal of any incentives to its production and sale.

In an interview with The Tribune, Dr Brennen explained that the legislation was not a reactionary measure to the WHO deadline, but the result of a considered process on industry regulations, compliance, and public awareness.

He said: “We’re expecting that once Cabinet has been able to give its review, to speak to how it’s to be implemented. It’s easy to put something down on paper but if you can’t implement it, it doesn’t make sense because how are you going to regulate it. The good thing is when the Tobacco Excise Tax was put in last year it started to speak to that, so we don’t have to worry much about the financing part, most of it now is the health protection part of it.”

“It’s not that we’re against the industry,” Dr Brennen added, “but we want it to be regulated in a way that it doesn’t affect children, it doesn’t affect people’s health. What we have done is say that we’re not telling people that they can’t smoke, we’re only telling you where you can’t smoke. Now it’s up to you to find a place where you’re able to do so where it doesn’t effect other people because it’s really protecting people against second hand smoke.”

The FCTC represents the first and only legally binding convention on health, according to Dr Gerry Eijkemans, the Pan American Health Organisation’s country representative for the Bahamas and the Turks & Caicos.

Dr Eijkemans outlined key elements of the treaty in response to The Tribune’s questions on convention principles yesterday.

She said: “One is smoke-free spaces, where people cannot smoke in closed spaces because they are harming not only their own health but the health of others who don’t choose to smoke tobacco products. Secondly, countries have an obligation after a certain period of time to have tobacco warnings on their cigarette packages, which should be at least 50 per cent of the package and there are very specific guidelines about that which are binding.

“Thirdly, there is the ban on advertising tobacco products. There can be no incentives to the production and sale of tobacco in the countries that have signed on to the convention. This will become formal once there is national legislation which makes it nationally binding but already under the convention these are things that need to be worked on as soon as it signed.”

Two months ago, Financial Services Minister Ryan Pinder told The Tribune that tobacco manufacturers in the Bahamas are not required to include health warning labels on products or advertising.

Tobacco was not included in the initial round of regulations to be introduced by the proposed Bahamas Standards Bureau (BSB); however, Mr Pinder said the matter is likely to be addressed in a timely manner given the level of public concern over the issue.

The proposed regulations present a conflict for local manufacturers, who continue to lobby for domestic tax exemptions. 

Caribbean Tobacco Enterprises (CTE) and Bahamas Cigarette and Tobacco Company told Tribune Business earlier this month that Excise Tax exemptions for domestic sales should be provided under the Industries Encouragement Act.

CTE produces Palms Cigarettes, which is advertised on several benches - without health warnings - along the Cable Beach strip.

Yesterday, Dr Eijkemans said: “The issue of de-taxing a tobacco company would go very much against the framework convention principles, and it would also be hard to export cigarettes that have not been taxed because other countries might say under our legislation it must be this way.

“We know now that taxing is one of the most efficient tools we have to reduce the demand for tobacco particularly for poor people, but it is not a discriminatory measure, it protects people who don’t choose to smoke, children, and it protects people who are without resources to pay for treatment of resulting health effects.”

Dr Eijkemans said the argument that indoor smoking bans will have a negative effect on tourism has been debunked, adding that there has been positive consumer feedback for bars and restaurants for providing smoke-free environments.