 |
|
|
Champion in the Anti-Smoking Fight |
|
By Mario Osava*
Grim
images of ill and disfigured individuals have helped Brazil convince
13 percent of its smokers to kick the habit.
RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazil, the world's leading
tobacco exporter, is carrying out Latin America's most successful
campaign against smoking: it acheived a 13-percent reduction thanks
in large part to some grim advertising images depicting the effects
of tobacco use on health.
A photo of José Carlos Marques Carneiro without his legs -- they
were amputated in the early 1980s -- can be found on cigarette packages
in Brazil with the text: "He is a victim of tobacco. Smoking causes
vascular disease and can lead to amputations." The image was also
licensed for anti-smoking campaigns in Britain, Japan and the United
States.
Carneiro began smoking when he was 15 years old. Today, 44 years
later, he is a symbol in the anti-tobacco fight.
"The first symptoms appeared in 1976, but it was a difficult disease
to diagnose and only became evident in 1981, when I felt itching,
clumsiness, cold toes, and the sole of my foot burned as if it were
frostbitten," Carneiro told Tierramérica.
After several surgeries and gradual amputations, he became active
in the anti-smoking effort. Since 2003 his image has been part of
several campaigns, under contract with the Ministry of Health, which
decided to use photos of "tobacco victims" in its warnings about
the threats of smoking to health.
"My joy is knowing that my photo helps prevent children from having
a life like mine. I celebrate every cigarette avoided," said Carneiro.
Brazil was able to reduce from 32 percent in 1989 to 18.8 percent
in 2003 the proportion of smokers older than 15, thanks to disquieting
images -- like the photos of Carneiro -- and to strict regulations
imposed on cigarette sales in spite of resistance from the tobacco
industry.
Cigarette advertising is limited to the shops where they are sold,
non-smoking sites have been expanded, and it is prohibited to use
adjectives like "light" on the products to suggest they are less
harmful than other cigarettes.
An estimated 200,000 Brazilians die each year from tobacco-related
causes.
"The most important victory in the anti-smoking movement was the
elimination of social approval of tobacco," says Paula Johns, coordinator
of the Zero Tobacco Network (RTZ), a coalition of more than 100
civil society, medical and scientific organizations.
A decisive factor in this process was José Serra, minister of health
from 1998 to 2002, says Johns. The civil society groups have only
organized in the past few years, gathering strength to push for
Brazil's ratification of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control,
of the World Health Organization (WHO). Brazil's Senate approved
it just a few months ago, in October 2005.
"Future advances depend on a government-civil society partnership,"
according to Johns.
Another RTZ leader, Paulo Cesar Correia, noted that doctors have
played an important role in disseminating information. One standout
is José Rosemberg, who in 1979 published the first scientific book
about tobacco use as a public health problem.
But despite the important progress made so far, there are numerous
challenges on the road ahead.
"Many shopkeepers violate the ban on sales to people under 18 years
old, and smoking continues in non-smoking locations because of the
lack of enforcement by municipal authorities," says Tania Cavalcante,
coordinator of the national anti-smoking program promoted by the
Ministry of Health.
Currently, the two biggest cigarette manufacturers in Brazil --
Souza Cruz, an affiliate of British American Tobacco, and Philip
Morris -- recognize that their product is "associated with health
risks" like cancer, emphysema, other "serious illnesses" as well
as dependence on tobacco, justifying the government's right to regulate
sales and advertising.
Both companies have taken up actions of social responsibility and
harm reduction, but they don't hesitate to underscore that the tobacco
industry generates 2.4 million jobs -- directly and indirectly --
in Brazil. An estimated 200,000 families grow tobacco in this South
American country.
Crop substitution is one of the challenges Brazil faces, as do other
tobacco-producing countries, although not in the short term, given
the slowness in decline in demand for tobacco worldwide, say experts.
"The (crop substitution) problem will likely only arise in 25 or
30 years," Vera Costa e Silva told Tierramérica. She led the WHO's
Tobacco Free Initiative (TFI) for five years and is now a consultant
for Brazil's Ministry of Health.
One priority she stressed at the Conference of Parties to the Convention
-- held Feb. 6-17 in Geneva -- is the fight against cigarette contraband.
Thirty percent of the cigarettes consumed in Brazil are illegal,
which makes the smoking habit cheaper. The tobacco industry has
expressed its full supoort for the anti-smuggling initiative.
Tobacco crop substitution is difficult because "today there isn't
anything as profitable as tobacco, especially for small farmers,"
says Adoniram Sanches Peraci, director of family farming finance
and protection at the Ministry of Agricultural Development.
In southern Brazil, to earn the same profit as from two hectares
of tobacco, a family would have to grow 10 hectares of maize. But
more farmland is not readily available.
Nevertheless, the government is working with small farmers on alternatives,
and for now is promoting other crops by offering low-cost credit,
at three percent annual interest, compared to 8.75 percent interest
on financing for tobacco farms.
Meanwhile, lawsuits against the tobacco industry continue. The Association
for the Defense of Smokers' Health (ADESF) filed a class action
suit in 1995 against Souza Cruz and Philip Morris in the name of
"the victims of deceitful advertising".
ADESF legal director Luis Mónaco estimates that the case could cost
the big tobacco companies 52.5 billion reais (24.4 billion dollars)
in restitution payments. "We won two sentences in our favor," he
said, adding that the association is confident they will win the
final legal victory.
But in the numerous individual lawsuits that ADESF is sponsoring
throughout Brazil, the rulings have varied. In Rio de Janeiro a
judge denied Carneiro the indemnization he had requested, despite
the fact that the amputation of his legs forced his early retirement
from work. The judge ruled that when Carneiro took up smoking there
was no Brazilian law to protect the consumer.
"Now we will file an appeal in a higher court," said Carneiro, adding
that he will never give up.
* Mario Osava is an IPS correspondent. With
reporting by Gustavo Capdevila in Geneva.
|
