By Kim Tae-jong
The government is seeking to revise a bill regulating the tobacco industry to oblige cigarette makers to disclose the names and quantities of various hazardous and cancer-causing ingredients and additives on cigarette packages.
The government has introduced diverse anti-smoking policies but its efforts are generally seen as ineffective. To mark the 24th World No Tobacco Day on Tuesday, the Ministry of Health and Welfare once again pledged to step up its anti-smoking campaigns.
The ministry will either revise the tobacco-regulating law or draw up a new bill to specify detailed information of hazardous ingredients and additives on cigarette packages.
But the biggest hurdle facing the ministry’s anti-smoking campaign is the National Assembly.
“We have sought to revise the related law, but lawmakers have taken a lukewarm stance so far,” a ministry official said. “They seem to think there are more urgent issues to discuss or many of them may have been lobbied by tobacco companies,” a ministry official said, asking not to be named.
According to the ministry, the smoking rate of male adults dropped to about 40 percent in 2010 from 70 percent in 2001, thank to various anti-smoking campaigns, designation of smoke-free zones and running related programs in clinics.
But the rate is still much higher than other OECD member countries. For comparison, the rate of male adults in the U.S. who smoke recorded 17.9 percent in 2008.
The proposed bill aims to require cigarette companies to disclose all ingredients and their quantity used in cigarettes, to stop using terms like “light” and “mild” which may give the impression that some tobacco products have lower health risks.
The government is also seeking to include telephone numbers for counseling on quitting smoking and explicit images showing smoking-related health hazards on packages.
The ministry signed the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) in 2005. Under the treaty, associated countries must make active and practical efforts to protect present and future generations from the devastating health, social, environmental and economic consequences of tobacco consumption.
To this end, they should regulate the production, sale, distribution, advertising and taxation of tobacco products by enacting a set of universal standards stating the dangers of smoking and limiting its use in all forms worldwide.
Along with stricter regulations, anti-smoking campaigners also argue prices of cigarettes should be raised to the levels of other countries.
“Smoking rates usually decrease when cigarette prices increase,” an official at the Korean Association of Smoking and Health said. “The government should impose heavier taxes on cigarettes and use them for anti-smoking campaigns and running clinics for smokers.”
The average price of a 20-cigarette pack is 2,500 won ($2.32) here, which is comparatively lower than those in other countries _ 9,170 won in the U.K. and 7,980 won in Australia (some brands in Australia contain 25 cigarettes).
Since the government increased the price of a pack of cigarettes by 500 won in 2004, there has been no additional price increase, except for some tobacco companies’ recent price increase in some of products by 200 won.
Smoking and its adverse health effects have always been controversial, often involving legal suits.
Last February, a court acknowledged a connection between smoking and lung cancer but ruled there are no sufficient grounds to prove illegal practices by tobacco companies, rejecting an appeal by a group of 31 lung cancer patients.
The group and their families launched the damages suit in 1999 against the state and KT&G, arguing long-term smoking caused their fatal disease and that the company did not fulfill their duty to inform them of the dangers of smoking by concealing most of its manufacturing records.
But a court has urged tobacco companies to put more effort into establishing clinics and pushing anti-smoking campaigns as they make money by "holding public health hostage."
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