Health Minister Warns Tobacco Industry to Start Printing Graphic Images on Cigarette Packaging

Indonesian health minister Nafsiah Mboi has warned the tobacco industry to start printing graphic images associated with harm from smoking on cigarette packets before the June deadline passes.

"The regulation was not issued all of sudden, it has existed since 2009, so the pictorial health warnings should be printed and distributed by June 24," Nafsiah told the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday.

A government regulation on tobacco control, which was issued in December 2012 following the introduction of the 2009 health law, stipulated that at least 40 percent of cigarette packaging should be covered in images of tobacco-related disease.

The industry was given 18 months to comply with the regulation, but as the deadline nears, the tobacco industry and pro-tobacco lobbyists have argued the start date for the new requirement is unclear.

However, Nafsiah has criticized the Indonesian tobacco industry for stalling.

She said they had no problem following regulations in other countries.

"When they exported their products overseas they didn't mind at all to print all the graphic images that sometimes comprise 80 percent of the package," she said. "You use the images abroad but you don't want to use them in your own country hoping that Indonesians will keep puffing, this is too cruel."

Nafsiah warned that the 2009 health law clearly stipulated that anyone who produced or imported cigarettes to Indonesia without the pictorial health warning could receive a five year prison sentence or Rp 500 million ($42,000) fine.

While speaking to the Jakarta Globe, Nafsiah also struck out at House Speaker Marzuki Ali, who she said had hampered the ministry's effort to move forward with ratification of the World Health Organizations' Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

Although it was actively involved in drafting the treaty, Indonesia remains the only country in the Asia-Pacific region not to have ratified the convention.

In December, Indonesian ministries agreed the country must sign the treaty to protect the nation from the danger of tobacco addiction.

But several lawmakers, including Marzuki Ali, sent a letter to president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, which asked him to postpone the signing because a tobacco bill was being deliberated in the house.

"Tobacco farmers needn't be overly concerned or start holding protests just yet," Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam told reporters in March. "I don't believe the president is in any rush to ratify this convention."

Nafsiah said that Indonesia's addiction to tobacco had reached an emergency level, especially for the the poorest 45 percent of households in the country.

"I used to respect the House Speaker but now I am thoroughly disappointed," she said. "Lawmakers were voted by the public to represent and protect the people, it is very sad that the House Speaker chose to side with the tobacco industry instead of his constituents."

Tobacco control activists have repeatedly criticized the bill, claiming it was initiated and funded by the tobacco industry to protect their business in a country where public health regulations lag behind much of the rest of the world and where over 37 percent of Indonesian boys between the ages of 15 and 19 were active smokers, according to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Health last year.

Nafsiah said before the present government's term ended the WHO treaty must be signed.

"Our president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is internationally recognized as a leader in public health sector," she said. "But some people are regretting that he did not want to leave a legacy to show that he is the president who eventually signed the treaty to join the international community."

source: www.thejakartaglobe.com