DRUG MONITORING AGENCY TO PROBE CIGARETTE MANUFACTURERS

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Sept 18 (Antara) - The Drug and Food Monitoring Agency (BPOM) will investigate cigarette manufacturers that have allegedly violated regulations by not displaying pictorial health advisories on cigarette packets.          Following up on a report by activists claiming that more than 50 percent of cigarette manufacturers surveyed did not display pictorial health warnings on their cigarette packets, the BPOM will begin monitoring packages.          "We will cooperate with police in carrying out the examinations. If they are found guilty of violating regulations, they will be acted upon based on the law in force," Elly Mutiawati of the BPOM said on Wednesday.          She noted that the BPOM has signed a memorandum of understanding on the supervision of food products and other goods, including cigarettes, which contain chemical substances and harm public health.          "A comprehensive supervision and investigation should be carried out first, before taking actions against violators," Elly said.            Activists of pictorial health warning (PHW) said they will report cigarette manufacturers to the Drug and Food Monitoring Agency for allegedly violating regulations that require them to display health advisories on their cigarette packets.          "We will report cigarette industries to the BPOM so that firm sanctions will be taken against them based on existing regulations," Widyastuti Soerojo, the PHW development coordinator of FKMUI-SEATCA (Public Health Faculty of the University of Indonesia-Southeast Asian Tobacco Control Alliance), said on Wednesday.          She added that a low number of cigarette manufacturers were abiding by regulations, particularly Article 144 Law on Health No. 36/2009.          The article requires cigarette companies to display a pictorial health warning on cigarette packets based upon Article 61, Government Regulation No. 109/2012.          Cigarettes manufactured as of June 24, 2014 must print images of people suffering from tobacco-related diseases on cigarettes packets.          According to Health Minister Nafsiah Mboi, the pictorial warning is meant to be a follow-up of the written warning on cigarette packets on the dangers of smoking. The health minister has also issued Regulation (Permenkes) No. 28/2013 that obliges cigarette manufacturers to display a health advisory with five different types of graphic pictures.          Initially, the government planned to put some 20 kinds different pictures on cigarette packets. Later, a survey was conducted by health experts to determine which pictures might discourage people from smoking.          "We have put written warnings, both on cigarette packets and on billboards for years, but unfortunately Indonesians remain the world's largest number of smokers, even though we know that smoking is injurious to health. I do not know whether this attempt will bring positive and better results," noted Nafsiah.          Therefore, the health ministry is now doing its best to discourage smokers. Beginning on June 24, 2014, cigarette packets printed pictorial warnings with gruesome images of people suffering from different tobacco-related diseases, such as oral, gangrene, mouth, neck and lung cancers.          PHW activist Widyastuti Soerojo of FKMUI-SEATCA has expressed hope that the BPOM will confiscate all cigarette products that do not carry health warnings on their packets.          "We call on the BPOM to confiscate all cigarette products which do not display pictorial health advisories. This is clearly a violation of regulations," she noted.          She said a survey has been conducted on cigarette manufacturers abiding by the obligation to print health advisories on cigarette packets.  The survey was held in Jakarta, Banda Aceh, Pontianak (West Kalimantan), Makassar (South Sulawesi), Bogor (West Java), Semarang (Central Java) and Surabaya (East Java) from August 24 to August 31, 2014.          Monitoring occurred in 540 outlets and shops, including cigarette distributors, super markets, mini markets, stalls and retail traders.          The survey discovered that less than 50 percent of cigarette packets carried images of people suffering from cigarette-related diseases.          Widyastuti said that the government gave cigarette manufacturers two months to sell their old stocks, before obliging them to display the advisory warnings on June 24, 2014. But two months after the deadline, more than 50 percent of manufacturers have not abided by the regulations.      "We hope the government will take firm sanctions against these cigarette manufacturers, so that they will no longer violate the regulations," Widyastuti remarked.          At the end of July this year, the Ministry of Industry issued a regulation on the supervision and control of cigarettes, considering that the tobacco processing industry has an important role in driving the nation's economy and creating multiplier effects.          It was mentioned that these multiplier effects included significant contributions to state revenues, development of related service industries, enhancements of business fields and the absorption of adequate numbers of workers.          The tobacco industry remains a main source of the country's income. At least 6.1 million people work in the cigarette industries or as tobacco farmers.          In 2012 and 2013, for example, the country received at least Rp84 trillion and Rp85 trillion, respectively, in tobacco tax revenues.          As per data from the 2013 health research, the number of smokers reached 67.4 percent of the population. Child smokers constitute 1.4 percent of the total population. Some 40.3 million children live with smokers.        The number of child smokers aged between 10 to 14 years has increased from 9.5 percent in 2001 to 17.5 percent in 2010. The number of teen smokers between 14 and 19 years of age rose from 12.7 percent in 2001 to 20.3 percent in 2010.***1*** (T.A014/INE/H-YH) (T.A014/A/BESSR/A/Yosep) 18-09-2014 16:45: