Officials gear up to tackle tobacco lobby

A hubbly-bubbly night out in the UAE may soon cost shisha fans double if the government, along with other Gulf countries, decides to raise shisha taxes by 100 per cent.

Dr Jasem Klaib, national coordinator for tobacco control for the GCC and the World Health Organisation (WHO), told the press during a three-day health ministry anti-tobacco workshop that the GCC was still mulling the possibility of increasing customs taxes on shisha, to make it on par with cigarettes.

Cigarettes are already taxed 100 per cent by the GCC. "The GCC is also thinking of putting in more funds from tobacco taxes into anti-smoking health education and awareness programmes," above the current 0.5 per cent, he said.

Dr Klaib could not say when the decision on either issue would happen.

WHO considers smoking the most preventable source of disease, which includes heart disease, high blood pressure and cancer. The world body estimates 45 tobacco-related deaths occur daily in GCC countries.

Tobacco control efforts in the UAE are being revived, with officials aiming for more progress before February of next year, and vowing to overcome organisational problems and interference from the powerful tobacco lobby.

As a signatory to the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the UAE is required to submit its first progress report to the world body in February 2008.

The UAE ratified the agreement in 2005, but additional measures to limit tobacco access and availability have been slow.

Dr Jasem Klaib told the press that his predecessor's resignation coupled with some interference from tobacco companies had slowed down the effort.

Powerful companies

"Tobacco companies are powerful, but we will try to be more powerful," he said. He added that tobacco companies had tried in several ways to influence the implementation and drafting of the tobacco law, which is still under review at the health ministry, such as anti-smoking posters and funding activities.

"We refused. The [posters] would advertise them" because at the bottom they will put their name on it, he said. Dr Klaib also said that the ministry would work on trying to pass tobacco legislation by the end of the year, a year past the initial target. The Health Ministry had previously targeted passing tobacco legislation by the end of 2006.

He said the current draft was lacking certain points, which needed to be addressed by all sectors, including customs, ministry of education, ministry of economy and the municipalities.

"The health ministry cannot do this alone. We have to sit and discuss [the points] together," he said.

Dr Mariam Mattar, assistant undersecretary for public health and primary healthcare at the health ministry, agreed, saying passing the law would alleviate the economic burden of treating tobacco-related illnesses.

"At the end of the day, we will save billions of dollars if we can prevent people from smoking," she said. "We are trying to get the concerned people to get involved voluntarily and not force them to have clear legislation to protect people," she added.

"The health ministry cannot do this alone. We have to sit and discuss [the points] together."