SA tobacco industry sends out warning

CAPE TOWN – South Africa faces job losses and billions of rand in lost tax revenue if it passes a bill to further restrict tobacco adverts and fine those who smoke in public, the head of the Tobacco Institute of SA (TISA) said on Wednesday.

In testimony before a parliamentary committee in Cape Town, TISA Chairman and Chief Executive Francois van der Merwe warned that legislation to amend the 1993 tobacco products control act would harm the industry, stimulate smuggling and have no impact on smoking. “There will not be one less smoker in this country because that’s reality.The only difference will be that all the products will be smuggled, the whole industry will be illegal and underground,” Van der Merwe said in response to calls to ban the smoking industry.”The government will lose eight billion in taxes, all jobs will be lost and you will still sit with the problem of smoking,” Van der Merwe said.He noted that South Africa was collecting 440 per cent more in tobacco taxes than a decade ago.British American Tobacco and Altria unit Phillip Morris International are among the international companies in South Africa’s 17-billion-rand tobacco industry.The bill, which was proposed by South Africa’s department of health, would tighten regulation of tobacco advertising, impose fines of up to one million rand on those who fail to comply with manufacturing and export standards, and close loopholes that anti-smoking advocates say have made it difficult to prosecute.Under the proposed legislation, individuals caught smoking in public places could be fined R500.Critics had charged that restrictions on public smoking had only been enforced against owners of bars and restaurants who were fined if customers lit up in a public area, allowing the real offenders to escape punishment.South Africa is in the forefront of an effort to control smoking on the world’s poorest continent.Most of the world’s estimated 1,3 billion smokers live in Africa and other parts of the developing world.Nampa-Reuters”There will not be one less smoker in this country because that’s reality.The only difference will be that all the products will be smuggled, the whole industry will be illegal and underground,” Van der Merwe said in response to calls to ban the smoking industry.”The government will lose eight billion in taxes, all jobs will be lost and you will still sit with the problem of smoking,” Van der Merwe said.He noted that South Africa was collecting 440 per cent more in tobacco taxes than a decade ago.British American Tobacco and Altria unit Phillip Morris International are among the international companies in South Africa’s 17-billion-rand tobacco industry.The bill, which was proposed by South Africa’s department of health, would tighten regulation of tobacco advertising, impose fines of up to one million rand on those who fail to comply with manufacturing and export standards, and close loopholes that anti-smoking advocates say have made it difficult to prosecute.Under the proposed legislation, individuals caught smoking in public places could be fined R500.Critics had charged that restrictions on public smoking had only been enforced against owners of bars and restaurants who were fined if customers lit up in a public area, allowing the real offenders to escape punishment.South Africa is in the forefront of an effort to control smoking on the world’s poorest continent.Most of the world’s estimated 1,3 billion smokers live in Africa and other parts of the developing world.Nampa-Reuters