CALL FOR IMMEDIATE PASSAGE OF TOBACCO LAW (p.30) 27-08-08

Story: Kofi Yeboah
The Director of Public Health of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Joseph Amankwa, has called for the early passage of a legislation on tobacco to help combat the menace of the drug.
He said the effects of tobacco had gone beyond a health issue to become a major developmental problem that needed to be addressed.
Dr Amankwa made the call at a workshop on the implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which was organised by the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) in Accra.
About five million people world-wide die from tobacco-related diseases every year and by the turn of this century, one billion people would have died under such conditions. Developing countries account for 70 per cent of the deaths.
Ghana was the 39th country out of 160 in the world to ratify the FCTC, but unfortunately, it is yet to enact a legislation on tobacco as required by the convention.
In the absence of a legislation, nonetheless, Dr Amankwa said there was a lot the nation could do to combat the tobacco menace, and cited the adoption of effective strategies.
He stressed the need for intensive mass education, prohibition on the sale of tobacco to and by children, and appropriate warning notices by manufacturing companies on their product, as some of the intervention measures needed to fight tobacco use.
The acting Chief Psychiatrist, Dr Akwasi Osei, said tobacco contained more than 4,000 chemicals, many of which caused cancer.
He said tobacco could also kill the sperm of men and reduce the ability of women to have children, apart from affecting foetuses.
Dr Osei said passive smokers were exposed to greater danger than active smokers, and advised the former to avoid smoking environments, while urging the latter to endeavour to stop the habit by seeking the assistance of a doctor.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Commissioner of CEPS, Mr Emmanuel Doku, stressed the commitment of CEPS to checking the smuggling of tobacco products into the country.