T

he recent news on a possible halt to the ongoing discussions over the draft presidential decree on tobacco control has certainly raised serious concerns among the health community in this country.

With statistics showing a 26 percent growth in tobacco consumption over the last 15 years, placing Indonesia among the world’s three largest tobacco consumers, pressure is mounting on the government to toughen regulations concerning prevention of tobacco-related diseases, particularly cancer, and cardiovascular and lung diseases, which kill more than 200,000 citizens every year.

In a country where smoking prevalence reached 34 percent in 2008, with 63 percent of men smoking and the number of adolescents taking up smoking on the rise, the impact of secondhand smoke, therefore, cannot be taken lightly. The majority of smokers here consume cigarettes made of tobacco and cloves.

Among measures that have been proposed to reduce tobacco consumption is an imposition of higher taxes, known as “probably the most effective tool”.

Simulations show that if the maximum legally allowable tobacco tax rates are implemented (70 percent of sales price is the global benchmark, against 37 percent in Indonesia in 2008), between 1.7 and 4 million tobacco-related deaths among smokers could be prevented, as higher cigarette prices drove the demand down.

Studies have shown, however, the decrease in tobacco demand is smaller than the increase in price. In other words, many smokers would continue to smoke despite higher tobacco prices.

Simulations have also demonstrated that additional revenues generated from doubling tobacco tax could create nearly 300,000 jobs, but the policy is bound to hurt farmers who currently depend on tobacco and clove for their livelihoods, and transition to alternative crops would not only be difficult but also time-consuming.

Clearly, Indonesia is faced with the dilemma of discouraging smoking while relying on the revenues from the tobacco industry in the forms of excise, value-added tax and income tax.

In fact, almost 98 percent of excise came from the tobacco industry in 2009. The industry also generates millions of jobs, directly and indirectly, including farmers, workers and those involved in the distribution chain — not to mention the advertising sector, which will suffer a great blow if the tobacco control takes effect.

The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) was initiated under the auspices of the World Health Organization in 2003, with Indonesia the only country in Asia that has not ratified it.

One measure that has never been suggested is to “neutralize” the content of tobacco smoke, which consists of a mix of chemicals and organic and non-organic compounds. While most of these organic compounds interact with our body system in the form of polymers, others form free radical gases, which cause diseases.

As for nicotine, there is no evidence that reducing its level will impact on health as indicated in the joint study conducted by the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Indonesia (Barber et al, 2008).

Certainly, such a solution appears nothing short of “bizarre” but, apparently, a biochemist from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) has found a way to do just that — neutralize tobacco through a nanobiological process. i.e. a process characterized by the interplay between physics, materials science, synthetic organic chemistry, engineering and biology. The researcher has successfully treated a number of terminal lung cancer patients through a detoxification method that includes smoking the “healthy cigarettes” of her invention.

Indeed, the nanostructure molecular blocks of these health cigarettes remove the electrons of the free radical gases contained in tobacco smoke, in particular those promoted by mercury, thereby neutralizing the ill-effects of smoking. Unlike regular cigarettes, this cigarette smoke is “odorless”.

Naturally, the controversial method has raised controversy in the wake of the anti-tobacco campaign here and around the world. Speculation has also been rife that she might work for the tobacco industry. It’s not true, of course. Years ago most patients would only survive in the next few months due to their poor prognostics, but many of whom are still alive.

As controversial as it may seem, the detoxification process is based on meta-engineering, for example, the development of new knowledge, and is part of a new science called complexity science that focuses on nonlinear and complex adaptive systems that are believed to be the best way to understand systems involving neurons in the human body.

This science, which includes the less popular quantum physics, deals with cells and interaction between cells. It thereby enables a better understanding on how the whole body system functions, thus leading to the achievement of “holistic health”. Hence, we are speaking of a science that potentially brings about breakthroughs in medical science which is generally based on reductionism, or a science that may well “revolutionize” medicine.

The detoxification method has been presented in a number of international forums attended by scientists working on Theoretical Physics and Nano or Computer Science, such as the recent ICEME (International Conference on Engineering and Meta-Engineering) in Florida, the US.

That said, just imagine if farmers in the country learn how to grow “harmless” tobacco, the industry would be able to continue producing and selling healthy cigarettes, generating tax revenues and keeping millions of jobs intact.

Of course, convincing WHO that tobacco can be “neutralized” is another matter Indonesia will have to deal with. Indeed, we can agree that the idea sounds preposterous, but then again who believed in the past that man could walk on the moon until it was proven?

The writer is specialized in public health and sociology and currently the program director at Kapeta Foundation.