Wholesale Tobacco

The fight against the illicit tobacco products

Manjari Peiris

The Department of Health and Family Welfare, India, jointly organized a two day regional workshop on illicit trade in tobacco products 15 to September 16, 2008 in New Delhi. Delegates SEARO countries attended this meeting and the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, India, Ramadoss Dr.Anbumani officially opened the workshop, and said that the Indian Government will cover smoking in the public and private offices, public places from October 2nd this year. mandatory warnings on tobacco products too pictorial appear from 30 November this year.

He added that sufficient resources be provided to tobacco control. "The money collected through surcharge on tobacco products is proposed to be used for tobacco control activities such as awareness campaigns, alternative cropping, the establishment of labs, alternative employment for tobacco growers, etc., "said Ramadoss.

The illicit trade in tobacco products not only undermines the government's efforts to raise taxes and investing the same in relevant social programs, but also hampers the control of tobacco supply chain by providing products cheaper tobacco.

The two-day regional workshop was organized jointly by the World Health Organization, the Framework Convention Alliance (FCA) and the Department of Health and Family Welfare. India is one among the most advanced countries to sign and ratify the WHO Framework on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which uses key strategies to reduce demand and supply of tobacco products. Sri Lanka was the first Asian country and the fourth in the world to ratify the FCTC.

Death caused by tobacco in the world hit 5.4 million annually and expected to reach eight million by 2030. If current trends are not checked, tobacco takes about one billion lives this century.

The specific objectives of this workshop were to review and assess the capacity of countries to control the illicit trade in tobacco products, identify key actions in the region to support countries in their efforts to develop and implement measures against the illicit trade in tobacco products, including the role of WHO and other international organizations in this field and review the text for the Draft Protocol to the Convention on illicit trade Tobacco emitted by the president of the BNI.

The regional workshop aimed at raising awareness about the serious health consequences and effects of illicit trade in tobacco products. The illicit trade includes smuggling, evasion of central excise duty / taxes and counterfeits. Each of these undermines the efforts of governments to collect taxes due on tobacco products. The lost taxes have been used for national programs, including tobacco control initiatives. Illicit trade led to the availability of tobacco products less expensive. Most countries in the region are grappling with the problem of illicit trade in tobacco products. There is also an awareness that governments must work together to address this serious problem. WHO - Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) is the first global health treaty and demand and identifies key strategies for reducing supply. The elimination of illicit trade is one of the strategies of supply reduction. However, the implementation of the provisions of the FCTC, it will be binding obligations between countries and a strong commitment to international cooperation.

Financial support to take this workshop was provided by the Convention Alliance Framework (CAF).

Dr. Vinayak M. Prasad, Director, Ministry of Health, Government o.