Smoking out dubious tactics of tobacco industry
Recent surveys have shown that Australians have been quitting the smoking habit in large numbers in the last five years. Yet, Aboriginal communities have the largest percentage of smokers.
A report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) released in August said that the number of regular smokers in Australia aged 14 and above has fallen to 19.5 percent of the population, compared to 28 percent in 1990.
However, in the remote Northern Territories of the continent, where most Aboriginal communities are located, the smoking rate is above 27 percent.
Smoking-related illnesses
A report released in May by the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) seemed to confirm this, saying the prevalence rate for smoking in many indigenous communities was approximately 54 percent, while in some communities it is as high as 80 percent.
In launching the report, NACCHO Chairperson Pat Andersen said smoking related illnesses are associated with almost 60 percent of Aboriginal and Torres Straits Islander deaths.
''We need action now. Communities are ready to act, but lack resources. Many of our people have tried to quit but do not have the support," she said.
Philip Morris, it seems, is now offering that support. But the offer of over A$70,000 (US$38,100) runs contrary to government regulations that ban tobacco company sponsorship of school or educational activities.
If they accept the tobacco firm's money, the AECG may be in breach of these government regulations.
The Aboriginal group's president Charles Davison said the government ban would not stop them from going ahead with the plan, saying the AECG was independent of the Department of Education and that they could distribute the CD-ROM through Aboriginal youth and community groups.
'Cynical exercise'
Anti-smoking non-governmental organisation Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) chief executive Anne Jones dismissed Philip Morris's offer as a ''cynical exercise'' in trying to improve their corporate image, while at the same time marketing their products to these vulnerable groups.
''(They) appear as if doing good work, at the same time marketing lethal and illegal products, that have caused major health problems in Aboriginal communities,'' she said on ABC Radio.
Kevin Donnelly, a Melbourne consultant contracted by Philip Morris to promote its projects in the Asia-Pacific region said the company has spent over A$500,000 (US$272,150) in the region in assisting to produce ''educational'' kits.
Under Donnelly's supervision, Philip Morris funded a school-based workshop programme I've Got the Power last year. It was abandoned after strong opposition from health and education professionals, who were concerned that tobacco-sponsored events would serve to promote the company.
Earlier this month, ASH warned that Donnelly has now focused his attention on one of the poorest countries in the region — Laos &#*212 where Philip Morris is to sponsor a drug education programme at a cost of A$82,000 (US$44,630) in collaboration with the Drug Control Unit of the Ministry of Education.
Simon Chapman, professor of public health at Sydney University, was sceptical about the motives of these schemes.
''Is there anyone who thinks that if these programmes really worked that they would be funding them?'' he asked.
''This latest move is part of a worldwide effort by Big Tobacco to persuade politicians and the public that it has no ambitions to market its products to children."
He argued that the positive publicity generated from these campaigns would be used to extract concessions from governments, such as reduced tobacco taxes, as has happened in Laos.
Creative marketing
Anti-smoking groups have been up in arms over the federal government's decision in late September not to recoup A$240 million (US$130.63 million) worth of unpaid excise taxes from tobacco companies.
''The money would have been enough to have given us a very compelling anti-smoking campaign that would have reached out to all those young people at risk of being hooked by smoking,'' said NSW Premier Bob Carr, who has written to Prime Minister John Howard protesting against the decision.
The author of the AIHW report, Mark Cooper-Stanbury, argued that smoking rates have declined in Australia is recent years due mainly to advertising bans, generous government funding for anti-smoking campaigns and public anti-smoking advertising campaigns.
Yet there is evidence that companies like Philip Morris are getting through these restrictions by using the Internet to advertise events that they sponsor.
A recent ABC-TV programme showed how Philip Morris used a website called Wavesnet to advertise fashion events around Australia where young people were to be invited.
These events had an Alpine cigarette brand colours theme and the cigarettes were available for sale to the over-18-year-olds at a kiosk outside.
Two cases filed
Anti-smoking campaigners are now asking for the tightening of tobacco advertising laws in the country to stop companies like Philip Morris exploiting the Internet and educational funding schemes.
The NSW Health Department will prosecute Philip Morris and Wavenet.net in two separate hearings over the Sydney fashion events held last year. The case against Wavenet.net will be heard in Sydney on Oct 28.
ASH's Anne Jones said this is a significant case as it would be the first time health authorities in Australia are prosecuting a tobacco company over indirect advertising.
''If it is not a breach of the law, then we believe that the law needs to be amended,'' she said.
Australia recorded 18,920 tobacco-related deaths in 1992, according to the Victorian state government health authorities. — IPS
