No Tobacco Day: WHO Harps On Need To Address Environmental Damage

African Governments have been urged by the  World Health Organisation (WHO) to impose environmental tax levies on tobacco across the value and supply chains, including production, processing, distribution, sales, consumption and waste management.

The Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, made the call on Monday in a message to commemorate the 2022 World No Tobacco Day which is always celebrated on 31 May every year.

According to Moeti, the World No Tobacco Day is to raise awareness of the negative health, social, economic and environmental impacts of tobacco production and use.

She said the year’s theme, “Tobacco: Threat to our environment”,  is meant to highlight the environmental impact of the entire tobacco cycle, from cultivation, production and distribution, to the toxic waste it generates.

She advised countries to accelerate the implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), which provides the necessary guidance to advance the creation of smoke-free environments, adding that the framework will create programmes to support tobacco users to quit, and support for the application of excise tax and other financial countermeasures.

Moeti said despite 24 African countries instituting bans on smoking in public places, and 35 banning tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, our estimates are that one in every 10 African adolescents use tobacco.

She further explained that said that the emergence of new products, such as electronic nicotine and tobacco products, are also proving attractive to youths, compounding the concerns.

“With 44 of WHO African Region’s 47 countries having ratified the WHO FCTC, which commits them to adopting effective and evidence-based measures to curb tobacco consumption.

“The need to address related environmental damage has seen WHO redouble its efforts to counter the overall threat,’’ Moeti said.

She mentioned some of the environmental impacts of tobacco farming to include massive use of water, which was a scarce resource across most of the continent, along with large-scale deforestation and contamination of the air and water systems.

According to her, land used to grow tobacco could also be used much more efficiently, especially in countries grappling with food insecurity.

“To help counter the threat, WHO has joined hands with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the Kenyan government to create the Tobacco-Free Farms project.

“Launched in March, the project supports farms to switch from tobacco to alternative food crops that will help feed communities, rather than harm their health.

“The UN agencies and the Kenyan government provide training, inputs such as seeds and fertilizer, and a ready market for their harvest through the World Food Programme’s local procurement initiatives,’’Moeti said.

She said that so far, 330 Kenyan farmers had switched to growing beans, with the first harvest yielding more than 200 metric tons.

“The second season, which has just begun, is now reaching more than another 1000 farmers.

“This is extremely encouraging for our plans to roll this programme out to other tobacco-growing countries on the continent,’’ Moeti said.

According to her, this is the kind of hard evidence that is essential to change the mindsets of farmers, and governments, who believe that tobacco is a cash crop with the potential to generate economic growth.

She said in Malawi, for example, tobacco accounted for about half of all exports, adding that comparative number for Zimbabwe is 13 per cent and 6 per cent and 3 per cent for Mozambique and Tanzania respectively.

“What is less accepted is that these are unfortunately short-term gains that are eclipsed by the long-term consequences of increased food insecurity.

“Tobacco-related illness in the African Region accounts for 3.5 per cent of annual total health expenditure.

“While tobacco leaf production is decreasing globally, it is increasing in the WHO African Region, which now produces about 12 per cent of all tobacco leaf internationally.

According to her, tobacco cultivation exposed farmers to several health risks, including “green tobacco sickness”, which was caused by nicotine absorbed through the skin during the handling of wet tobacco leaves.

 “Cigarette butts litter pavements, parks and beaches, finding their way into waterways and leaching harmful chemicals that poison animals and aquatic life and children,’’ she said.

She said, “reducing tobacco consumption is a key catalyst towards realising the health-related Sustainable Development Goals but, as the environmental evidence illustrates, the benefits go far beyond health.’’