May 21, 2007 Lagos, Nigeria …. [Taashi Rowe/ANN]
Following in the footsteps of other countries, the governments of two Nigerian cities, Lagos and Kano, have filed a lawsuit against tobacco companies operating in the country. The suit points out that even though tobacco companies have admitted to the fatal consequences of smoking, they still target young people in Nigeria. The cities are hoping to recover billions of dollars to offset treatment for tobacco-related illnesses, stop-smoking programs and tobacco education campaigns.
This landmark case is welcome news to many Seventh-day Adventists–the people who brought the world the Five Day stop smoking plan.
“Now that tobacco products are growing in availability and advertising, this suit has demonstrated that it is time to stop ignoring the need to educate our young people, church members, and communities. They should know that for maximum health we need to first, not start using tobacco, and second, if you're already using, it is time to quit,” says Dr. Herb Giebel, acting health ministries director for the Adventist church in West-Central Africa. “Though it will be difficult we need to do whatever we can to minimize the tobacco impact on Nigerian society. This is something that we as Adventists need to be actively involved with and be known for.”
Dr. Allan Handysides, health ministries director for the Adventist world church, believes that after a major tobacco settlement in the United States, many tobacco companies focused their attention on developing countries where there is often less regulation.
But Handysides says this lawsuit will send a message to big tobacco companies: The practices that tobacco companies can't get away with in Western countries won't be tolerated in developing countries either. Handysides speaks to practices named in the lawsuit. They include selling cigarettes by the stick, which appeal to younger buyers who can't afford to buy an entire pack of cigarettes and doesn't allow for a warning of adverse health consequences and marketing flavored cigarettes, which appeal to first time smokers.
Nevertheless going through the courts is not the only way that these cities are attacking tobacco use. Friends of the Earth, Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), a civil society group joining in the suit, say they hope the publicity around this suit will raise public suport for enacting effective tobacco control legislation.
Roy Branson, director of the Center for Law and Public Policy at Adventist-owned Columbia Union College in Takoma Park, Maryland, applauds the lawsuit but believes more effort should be dedicated to regulating smoking. To that end, Branson, one of the founders of the Interreligious Coalition on Smoking and Health in the United States, says there is much that Adventists and other religious groups can do to influence anti-smoking legislation.
He says religious groups can lobby for “very significant taxes on the sale of tobaccos and regulate where it can be smoked. If Lagos were to ban tobacco from public business it would have a more immediate impact than a long lawsuit. But, if they win this suit it won't impact where people can smoke in Lagos.”
Whatever the outcome of the case, Giebel says the lawsuit is a wakeup call for the Adventist church, particularly in Africa. “Up until now we have not viewed tobacco as much of a problem in Nigeria and so as a church we have generally not done much in this area,” he says. “This means that we need to mobilize and train our Adventist health workers and church members to be able to educate effectively against tobacco use and then provide smoke-free programs to help those who are smoking or using tobacco to quit.”
Handysides reiterates that churches can have an impact. He points to the Philippines where there is a strong anti-tobacco lobby that looks to the Adventist church's health ministry department for ideas on stop-smoking and regeneration programs.
Copyright (c) 2007 by Adventist News Network.
