Smokers told to quit at home

Published by admin | Filed under health, environment

Activists are urging smokers not to light up at home, to reduce the danger posed by passive smoking to their children.

There are thought to be at least 43 million children in Indonesia exposed to secondhand smoke at home, giving them a higher risk of lung cancer and other tobacco-related diseases, according to activists.

“Millions of children are exposed to smoke in their homes. We must save them because we cannot fully rely on government regulations,” the head of education and information at the Indonesian Smoking Control Foundation, Fuad Baradja, said Sunday during a rally in Jakarta to commemorate National Children’s Day.

According to the 2006 Global Youth Tobacco Survey, more than six in 10 Indonesian students were reported to have been exposed to tobacco smoke in their homes, and eight in 10 students in public places.

“We also want to warn parents that … their children can pick up the habit if they do not stop (smoking) right now,” Fuad said.

He said if children saw their parents smoking, they would grow up thinking it normal to light up a cigarette.

“It is just like we are passing down the habit to our children,” he said.

A member of the National Commission for Children’s Protection, Lisda Sundari, said children were also being victimized by the thousands of cigarette advertisements to which they are exposed.

A 2006 survey by the Drug and Food Monitoring Agency found 14,249 cigarette ads appeared in the mass media and in public places throughout the country over the course of the year.

“Besides, if they (children) try to tell people around them not to smoke they are often ignored,” she said.

She said that in honor of National Children’s Day, which fell on July 23, anti-smoking activists were urging the government and all citizens to protect children from the dangers of tobacco.

Dozens of high school students also took part in the Jakarta rally, asking the government to pass stricter regulations on tobacco advertising and sales.

The students called on the government to ban cigarette advertisements and the sale of single cigarettes, as well as raising cigarette prices.

“We sent a petition to the House of Representatives in February but there was no follow-up,” Lisda from the children’s protection commission said.

She said this was proof authorities lacked the political will to take on tobacco companies.

“That’s why we have to overcome this problem starting in our own homes.”

Currently, about 215 million cigarettes a year are sold in Indonesia, making the country the fifth biggest cigarette market in the world.