Youth debate: Should cigarettes be banned?

There has been intense debate on banning cigarettes in various countries in order to curb smoking. In Mauritius, this matter has become the subject of intense debates. Today, over half of young men aged between 19 to 24 are smokers, according to the NCD Survey by the Ministry of Health.

Despite measures implemented by the government to restrain the trend, around one in five Mauritians (19.3%) are regular smokers. Recently, the Health Minister Anil Gayan has announced the introduction of plain packaging for packets of cigarettes. In this week’s edition of Youth Debate, we investigate whether cigarettes should be banned, as it has been done in Bhutan.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"19383","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-33359 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"200","height":"348","alt":"Vishnu Ramadoo"}}]]Vishnu Ramadoo: “A better world without smoking”

Vishnu Ramadoo reveals that smoking has become a serious issue around the world. “Smokers are twice more vulnerable of having heart attacks than non-smokers. According to surveys, smoking is responsible for almost 90% of deaths from lung cancer, around 80% of deaths from bronchitis and emphysema and around 17% of deaths from heart diseases. According to Cancer Research UK, one person dies every fifteen minutes in UK from lung cancer. The world would be surely a better place without cigarettes.”

According to the young man, neutral packaging does not have any effect on smokers. “Smokers keep on purchasing cigarettes as they are addicted to the nicotine. So neutral packaging does not have any effect on youngsters. The Health Minister should invest more money on sensitisation campaigns for teenagers on the impending health damages cigarettes can cause. Our government should increase the price of cigarettes as a solution to discourage smokers.”

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"19382","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-33358 alignright","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"200","height":"238","alt":"Vanessa Vaitilingon"}}]]Vanessa Vaitilingon: “Smoking should be banned”

21-year old Vanessa is a University of Mauritius student. She states that smoking should be banned. “Experiments carried out by scientists all over the world have proven that the harmless looking cigarette does a great deal of harm. Cigarettes contain 16 cancer producing substances. Studies have revealed that inhaling smoke from other’s smoking – passive smoking – causes cancer. In addition to the dreaded disease, there are several other lung diseases those smokers, both direct and passive, are prone to.”

She says that neutral packaging is a half-hearted measure. “More and more evidence is being found to prove that smoking harms the human body. They day is not far when some enlightened government somewhere will be the first to ban cigarettes. Then, the rest will follow.”

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"19385","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-33361 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"167","height":"204","alt":"Yoginee Oumadevi Currevanden"}}]]Yoginee Oumadevi Currevanden: “Lets try neutral packaging”

Yoginee, a 21-year-old student in law and criminal justice, claims that many scientists may have agreed that cigarette smoking is dangerous to health but society condones the fact that adults are able take decisions whether to harm themselves or not, as long they are not harming others. “I am neither for nor against the idea of banning cigarette smoking. But, if the Minister thinks that introducing neutral packaging and that the absence of logos and brand identification would discourage youngsters from smoking, I think that we should go for it because it was started by the World Health Organisation and it has been successful. So, Why not try it in our country?”

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"19379","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-33355 alignright","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"200","height":"230","alt":"Nabiilah Naraino Majie"}}]]Nabiilah Naraino Majie: “Restrictions would do them a favour”

Nabiilah, 22 years old, a student at the University of Mauritius, argues that cigarettes are harmful and government should take action. “Smoking is not really a matter of choice, as nicotine is an addictive drug. Most smokers want to quit; restrictions would do them a favour.” She affirms that she does not think the government really wants people to quit smoking as they contribute quite a lot to State coffers in terms of tax revenues. “They will introduce plain packaging just to create the impression they are doing something productive. In order to prevent youngsters from smoking, plain packaging will not be successful! It would be more effective to just keep on raising the tax. Cigarettes being more expensive, smokers will find it hard to buy them.”

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"19381","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-33357 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"149","height":"174","alt":"Sheik Irfaan"}}]]Sheik Irfaan: “A ban is necessary”

27-year old Irfaan works in the health sector and he explains that many countries today have laws which prohibit smoking in public places because it affects non smokers as well. “Smoking is not only dangerous for smokers but it is detrimental to non-smokers as well. It damages their health against their will and could give them lung cancer. Besides, nowadays, the younger generation is falling into this trap. So banning smoking will be a means to prevent them from falling into this scourge.” He does not believe that the introduction of neutral packaging will discourage youngsters from smoking.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"19384","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-33360 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"200","height":"270","alt":"Yashrat Jumon"}}]]Yashrat Jumon: “Less air pollution, lower personal expenses, etc”

20-year old Yashrat is a Mathematics students the University of Technology, Mauritius. “Restrictions on smoking can be traced back to the early 16th century and up to now, this issue remains controversial. Considering the physical, emotional, economic, environmental and other negative outcomes of smoking, the world would have been a much better place without cigarettes. The tobacco epidemic, the leading cause of cancer, is one of the biggest threats to the health of the world population, killing around 6 million people annually, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).”

He further adds “banning smoking will reduce healthcare expenditure where this sum may be invested for the betterment of the country. Moreover, this will lessen the chance of influencing others to adopt the habit. Smokers usually get hammered by ‘smoking kills’ slogans but let’s look at the bright side of quitting smoking: less air pollution, lower personal expenses, cleaner areas and home atmosphere, and improved productivity.”

For him, the introducing of neutral packaging does not seem to be an effective means of preventing youngsters from smoking. “After all, it is the ‘cigarette stick’ which gives them a foolish notion of being cool, independent and makes them wrongly believe they are adults. Instead, words like ‘Kissing a smoker is licking an ashtray!’ or ‘Smoking causes impotence!’ on packages proved to be powerful messages to step away from it,” he says.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"19380","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-33356 alignright","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"200","height":"253","alt":"Philip Chang Ko"}}]]Philip Chang Ko: “I am against children smoking”

Marketing assistant Philip Chang Ko is not against smoking but he believes that it is a good initiative to prevent those who start smoking at an early age. “I am against children who smoke. Being in the marketing field, I do not believe that this will help to reduce the number of smokers in the country. A person, when he buys his first cigarette, will be buying the last one he tried as a reference, perhaps the neutral packaging might discourage them if the brand is not identified.”

According to him, a chain smoker has his favourite cigarette and it is not a change in packaging that will alter his behavior. “Price hikes, ugly packaging will not make a person reluctant to buy cigarettes, because most people will smoke due to their addiction to nicotine. Perhaps, this new measure has worked in Australia but we cannot say for sure that this will work here. In a way, it can help to discourage kids to identify a cigarette and recognize the brand through colours. So in a sense, this can help to target those who start smoking from a young age.

Does a person smoke because he likes the packaging? Does the colour of the packaging influence his choice or is it the taste? We have to question past strategies such as no smoking in public areas, warning messages, crude images on boxes, and price hikes. The solution could be to reinforce laws, enforce the prohibition of sale of cigarettes to minors and of course, why not go for an overall ban!”

Jaufuraully Naweed: “I am completely against smoking”

Naweed works in the education sector. He explains that cigarettes contain about 600 ingredients and is dangerous. “With the recent rise in duty on tobacco products by 5% in Budget 2014, it appears that Mauritius is struggling to reverse a worrying trend. A report by the American Cancer Society shows that Africa is likely to face a severe health threat in the form of a smoking epidemic, from the fast-growing increase in tobacco use.

Both Mauritius and South Africa are highlighted in the report as ‘the most developed countries in the region’ that show high penetration rates of smoking, resembling those of developed economies. According to a World Bank report published in 2010, the smoking prevalence among Mauritian men was 30.52% in 2009, compared to a lowly 6% for the African region.” He is strongly against smoking and advices young people not to smoke.