FNC backs tobacco ban

Mahmoud Habboush and Mitya Underwood

• Last Updated: February 11. 2009 3:43PM UAE / February 11. 2009 11:43AM GMT

ABU DHABI // The Federal National Council yesterday endorsed a far-reaching proposal to restrict smoking across the Emirates and control how tobacco products are marketed.

It would mean major changes to the habits and social lives of smokers and was welcomed by health care professionals.

Smoking would be prohibited in most closed public spaces, in cars with passengers aged under 12 and anywhere in hospitals, mosques, educational institutions and sports facilities.

Many details were left out. For example, authorities would be allowed to allocate areas within some public premises for smoking, but the rules for smoking rooms were left to an appendix to be released after the law is approved.

The Supreme Council, which is made up of the rulers of the seven emirates, must approve the ban.

FNC members yesterday suggested several changes to the proposal. The Minister of Health, Humaid al Qattami, agreed to most of them, including a ban on growing tobacco for commercial purposes.

Council members and Mr al Qattami debated the prohibition of smoking in cars with children present.

“Private vehicles are private property like houses. We don’t want to breach personal freedom,” Mr al Qattami said. But council members maintained that many countries, including at least one GCC state, had such bans.

The draft law would require packages of tobacco products, including cigarettes, to include written statements and pictures that warn against smoking.

Promotional materials that encourage smoking would also be banned. Cafes in residential buildings or in residential areas would not be allowed to serve cigarettes or shisha.

Although the Health Minister agreed to a ban on the production of tobacco-related products and tobacco farming, no time limit was specified.

Mr al Qattami said factories that made such products were worth hundreds of millions of dirhams and could not just be closed immediately. He told the FNC that the Cabinet had stipulated that the law should not extend to commercial activities. Some members speculated that the Cabinet could appeal to the Supreme Council to scrap the amendments Mr al Qattami agreed to include.

“The most important point of the law was prohibiting growing tobacco,” Abdullah al Shehi, an FNC member from Ras al Khaimah, said on the sidelines of the meeting.

Penalties would include jail terms for people or companies that grow tobacco, import confectionery and toys that look like tobacco products or use equipment used for selling tobacco, such as vending machines. Fines would range from Dh100,000 (US$27,250) to Dh1 million.

People who smoke in places where doing so was prohibited could be fined Dh500.

Dr Mogheer al Khaili, an Abu Dhabi FNC member and chairman of Abu Dhabi Education Council, said after the session that he was “eager” for the smoking ban.

“We hope that parents will serve as model for their children by avoiding smoking at home, in public places and their cars,” he said.

“Teachers shouldn’t smoke in places where they can be seen by their pupils.”

Dr Wedad al Maidoor, head of the Ministry of Health’s tobacco-control team, has been working on a smoking ban for two years. She said she was “extremely happy” that it was accepted by the FNC and will now go to the Supreme Council.

“It is very good that they have accepted the law,” she said. “It is all about protecting people’s health, and regulating the use of tobacco in general.

“It includes a lot of different elements which we think are important, mainly the ban of smoking in certain public places and the total ban on advertising.”

Dr al Maidoor is also working on proposal to raise the price of cigarettes by Dh13 to Dh43 per packet.

In the UAE a packet costs about Dh7, compared with Dh32 (£6) in the UK and Dh25 in the US.

“They are too cheap here. This is something we will be working very hard on now that the law has been accepted,” Dr al Maidoor said.

Dr Asif Fattar, consultant pulmonologist at the City Hospital in Dubai, said that if a smoking ban was enforced properly, it should make a big difference.

“Any rule which will make people think about giving up smoking is certainly welcome,” he said. “With regards to lung cancer and emphysema, there is a direct correlation to smoking. You can smoke for 30 years then give up, and it will still make a positive difference.”

Dr Fattar especially supported a ban on tobacco promotions and on sweets and toys that resemble cigarettes.

“This should certainly help reduce the number of underage smokers,” he said. “If they do not see adverts they will be less likely to start smoking. There should be some really strict measures preventing shops from selling cigarettes to underage children.”

mhabboush@thenational.ae

munderwood@thenational.ae