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Poll shows 66 pc for outlawing public smoking
KATHMANDU, AUG 13 -
At a time when smoking has become a fad, especially among youths, a poll has showed that an overwhelming majority of people want smoking in public places banned.
Around 66 percent of the respondents said smoking should be banned in public places, while 75.9 percent voted for a ban on selling tobacco products as well. The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) conducted the public poll while an anti-tobacco bill is awaiting the parliament’s final approval.
The survey was conducted in Kathmandu Valley among 1,500 respondents to collect public opinion about Tobacco Control and Regulatory Bill 2010. The bill, according to Health Secretary Dr. Sudha Sharma, is awaiting the final nod of the full House. MoHP had tabled the bill in parliament in 2009. The Supreme Court had on 13 June 2006 and 21 Oct. 2009 issued orders to ban smoking in public places, public vehicles, health organisations, child welfare and childcare institutions and educational institutions, among others. Once the parliament endorses the much-awaited bill, smoking or using tobacco products in public places will be banned.
MoHP data shows Nepal collected around 3.77 billion as revenue from the tobacco products last year while it spent around 47 billion in the treatment of tobacco related disease. Statistics show that some 25,000 people die due to tobacco related diseases annually in the country.
The parliament’s statute committee amended the bill making it mandatory to allocate 75 percent of the space in cigarette packets or wrappers or labels of any tobacco products for anti-tobacco use messages and pictures. Similarly, only the license holders will be allowed to sell tobacco, people under 18 or over 75 years of age and pregnant women will not be sold such items. Nepal signed the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control in 2003 and ratified it in November 2006.
Posted on: 2010-08-14 08:44
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