Tobacco Documents Online

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION OF CONSUMERS UNIONS AGHAlT U P D A T E II P D A T E U P D A T E no. 2 / 86 April 1986 SMCKM CONTROL IN NINE ASIAN {OONTRLFS Whereas in most industrialised countries the smoking habit is decreasing and is becoming socially less acceptable, in developing countries it is on the increase, fuelled by intensive promotional campaigns of the tobacco companies. People in developing countries are less aware of the health risks of smoking. Smokers in the developing countries are rare y given the health warnin& that are now standard in the developed countries. Cigarettes in eve oping countries may contain twice as much tar as cigarettes sold in western countries. t,"The f acts that growing tobacco reduces the area available f or food crops, that '/ the curing of tobacco leaves leads to environmental damage and that imports of t-'*'tobacco products are a f inancial drain on the national economies, all call into question the morality of an industry that promotes cigarettes and is responsible f or a growing consumption. Prom 24-26 October 1985, the International Union Against Cancer (UICC) together with the IOCU Regional Off ice f or Asia and the Pacif ic organised a regional workshop on smoking control measures in Penang, Malaysia. Twenty-two people f rom consumer and other public interest groups participated in the workshop. The three-day workshop was aimed at increasing the knowledge of the participants of the ways in which the tobacco industry operates and ended with a call to ban all advertising and sponsorship of tobacco products. Pre-workshop research was carried out which resulted in the presentation of nine country reports examining the smoking control situation in respectively: Bangladesh, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, The Philippines and Thailand. The presentations are edited and brought together in a document; what is so interesting about the reports is that they are based on current inf ormation and prepared by anti-tobacco activists from the countries in question. The country reports have been sent to the workshop participants and those organisations who have been working with the AGHAST Campaign. Others who are interested to receive a copy of the document can write to Atie Schipaahboord, AGHAST Coordinator, IOCU Central Office. IOCU's campaign to curb tobacco promotion was launched in December 1984 and given the acronym AGHAST (Action Groups to Halt Advertising and Sponsorship of Tobacco). The AGHAST campaign includes monitoring of promotion and marketin$ practices of the tobacco industry, the production of action books and lobbying tools in support of local action and international advocacy. For more inforsation write to Atie Schipaanboord, AGHAST Co-ordinator, IOCU Central Office, Esiaastraat 9, 2595 EG The Hague, The Netherlands. Telephone (31 70) 476331. Telex 33561.