Hitting where it hurts

Contrary to the tobacco industry’s periodic claims that the sale ofcigarettes in India is decreasing, the truth is that the Indian market isgrowing. In India, the British American Tobacco (BAT) affiliate IndianTobacco Company (ITC) recorded 31 per cent growth in pre-tax profits in1999-2000, making a profit of Rs 1,229 crore in one year.

Not only did it cross the one thousand crore mark for the first time, butalso registered a robust growth of 31 per over the previous year. Profitafter tax was Rs 792 crore, a growth of 27 per cent over the last year. Atpresent, MNCs have a minority stake in Indian companies, but trends fromother developing countries like Thailand show that they eventually take overa chunk of the market.

Though tobacco is consumed by 20 million people in India, kills 8 lakhpeople every year (Indian Council of Medical Research estimates), and causes12 million annual cases of tobacco-related illnesses, tobacco-controlremains low on the government’s priority.

Here’s why: India is the third largest grower and the eighth largestexporter of tobacco in the world. Over $2.25 billion worth of raw andmanufactured tobacco is exported, which is over 5 per cent of India’s totalagri exports, and the estimated taxes from cigarettes in 2000-2001 are Rs6,507.12 crore.

Not only are taxes and export earning huge from tobacco, but it is also theonly source of income for many small farmers, labourers and bidi-rollers,who constitute vote-banks. Any attempts to push the proposed tobacco-controllegislation a draft of which has been waiting Cabinet approval for nearlya year has MPs from tobacco-growing states up in arms.

The trump card the industry doesn’t tired of whipping out is that of the sixmillion farmers and laborers involved in growing tobacco. “Tobaccocompanies also loan money to poor farmers to buy seeds and saplings, and thedebt ensures that the farmers don’t switch over to other crops,” says ahealth ministry official.

Not only do the farmers get help from the industry, but also from a clutchof government-run departments that promote tobacco’s growth and export. Muchof this tobacco never leaves our shores and is consumed in the country. TheDirectorate of Tobacco Development, in collaboration with the statedepartments of agriculture, trains farmers in improved methods of tobaccocultivation and procures seeds for them. It is helped and advised by theIndian Tobacco Development Council. The Indian Council of AgriculturalResearch chips in by doing research on soil and plant pathology, apart fromlooking for alternative crops to replace tobacco. The Tobacco Board,meanwhile, regulates the market and ensures good prices to the growers.

Tobacco farmers further enjoy all the state subsidies for seeds,transport, water, electricity, soft loans that ends up making raw tobaccocheap for the industry and adds to their profits.

The tobacco industry also complains that high taxes are leading to anincrease in cigarette smuggling. ITC, for one, claims that smuggling hasrisen fivefold in the last decade. But internal industry documents show thatthe tobacco industry actively promotes smuggling to create a market fortheir brands. Internal documents of BAT the ITC partner made public as aresult of US litigation against the tobacco companies, show that the companysmuggled cigarettes in Asia and Lain America, including Bangladesh, Myanmarand India.

What also works in the industry’s favour is the absence of any comprehensivelaw or legislation, a situation which is exploited fully by the industry.The enforcement of partial bans that do exist is lax, making it easy fortobacco companies to find loopholes and promote their products. For example,while ads are banned on the government-owned television channel, otherchannels are free to air them. Doordarshan complained in April this yearthat it was losing huge amounts of money because of this self-imposedregulation and asked for a level playing field.

Health warnings on tobacco products are not direct `Cigarette smoking isinjurious to health’ and often illegible, especially on bidi and chewingtobacco packs. Furthermore, these are often written in English, a languagewhich the majority cannot read.

Sponsorships and hoardings are banned in the states of Delhi, Kerala andGoa, but multinationals sponsor sports and music events to attractadolescents. There is no ban on the sale of tobacco to minors in fact,many of the bidi rollers and vendors are children.

According to a survey of tobacco consumption among youth in South East Asia,tobacco initiation age is lowest in India compared to other South East Asiancountries.

The report, prepared by the Mumbai-based Tata Institute of FundamentalResearch, found that street children without any parental supervision gothooked to the habit at an average age of eight. School-going children livingin the care of guardians, however, light up their first cigarette at theaverage age of 11. Sports, and its associations with fitness and skill, isthe tobacco industry’s favorite brand ambassador in India.

Cricket the most popular Indian sport which is telecast 125 days a yearnaturally receives the bulk of largesse. The Indian cricket team issponsored by the ITC and the entire Indian cricket team sports the Willslogo. This helps the ITC sidestep the ban on tobacco advertising onDoordarshan as well as prompts children to associate smoking with sports.

It further organises cricket tournaments, which are immensely popular withadolescents. A 10-city survey of 9,000 children between the ages of 13 and17 years by the Goa-based National Organisation for Tobacco Eradication(NOTE) found that 13 per cent of them wanted to smoke after watching theWills World Cup Cricket series in 1996. Seventy two per cent of them saidthey were convinced at least one person smoked in the Indian cricket teamthat played the World Cup.

To give credence to their claims that the cricket team was wearing the logoof its clothes brand and not its popular cigarette brand, ITC launched theWills brand of leisure-wear. Golf courses and tournaments (Classic) are alsobeing named after cigarette brands, and India’s leading tennis player isendorsing a cigarette brand (Gold Flake). There is need for comprehensivelegislation which would not only introduce advertising and sponsorship bans,but also ban sale of tobacco to children and adolescents. Raising taxesremains a profitable option for the government to control tobacco, as doesregulating the huge chewing tobacco market, which has made oral cancer theleading cancer among Indian men.

Realising the enormity of the tobacco pandemic tobacco is expected to kill10 million people by 2030 the WHO used its constitutional mandate for thefirst time to frame an international treaty for tobacco control. Called theFramework Convention on Tobacco Control, the treaty will give each countryinternational support to control tobacco use, which it describes as “anentirely avoidable burden of disease.”

Global tobacco giants have long regarded the WHO as a grave threat to theirinterests and a review of the industry documents showed that it funded“independent” experts to counter WHO’s research and manipulate scientificdebate on the health impact of tobacco use through the ’80s and ’90s.

The WHO report released last month further proved that the industryaggressively used journalists to question the WHO’s “priorities, budget,role in social engineering, etc”, undermine its funding base and eveninfiltrate its operations. While this deceit increased WHO’s resolve tostrenghten country initiatives on tobacco control, the real battle againstthis source of disease and debilitation will be won only when tobaccocontrol becomes a public health the world over.

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