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House faces heightened threat of cigarette-industry interference: Experts
Experts are warning of the possibility of growing interference by cigarette-industry players at the House of Representatives as a draft of the tobacco affairs bill has been included in the National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) 2015-2019
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xperts are warning of the possibility of growing interference by cigarette-industry players at the House of Representatives as a draft of the tobacco affairs bill has been included in the National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) 2015-2019.
'What Indonesia needs is a law that protects people's interests instead of the capitalism of the country's cigarette industry,' said the National Commission on Tobacco Control's (NTCT) head for medical support development, Hakim Sarimuda Pohan, in a statement on Sunday.
He said most articles in the draft bill discussed tobacco production instead of measures to control the risks of tobacco use.
'Tobacco use in Indonesia has continued to increase at an alarming rate,' said Hakim.
Indonesia ranked fourth among countries with the highest number of cigarettes consumed after China, Russia and the US, said Tobacco Control Support Center (TCST) data in 2012. Data from Basic Health Research (Riskesdas) in 2007 and 2010 said that the percentage of beginner smokers aged between 10 and14 increased to 17.5 percent of the population of that age group in 2010 from 16 percent in 2007.
'This shows that Indonesians are beginning to smoke at an increasingly younger age on the absence of comprehensive regulations to control tobacco circulation,' said Hakim.
Therefore, he added, developing public policies that could effectively control tobacco consumption and protect the future of younger generations was crucial.
In addition to the aforementioned bill, a draft of the tobacco control bill is also being deliberated at the House.
'The tobacco affairs draft bill does not promote protection efforts, 'said Hakim.
Meanwhile, he said, the tobacco control draft bill promoted by the NTCT was striving to regulate the safety of Indonesians, especially children and adolescents, from the health risks of tobacco products.
In a hearing with House Commission IX overseeing health on Jan.2, the NTCT proposed the Tobacco Control draft bill, as the equivalent of the tobacco affairs draft bill, concerning the growing influence of the tobacco industry despite the existence of Government Regulation (PP) No.109/2010 on tobacco control. (ebf)(++++)
