A
sham anti-smoking program
— Conflicts
of interest tie Japanese government's hand
By KIROKU HANAI
(This article first appeared in the Japan
Times of May 28, 2001)
On May 31, World No-Tobacco Day as designated by the
World Health Organization, a variety of commemorative meetings are
scheduled to be held in Tokyo, Shiga Prefecture and other places under the
sponsorship of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry. WHO's slogan is:
Secondhand Smoke Kills. Let's Clear the Air.
The Japanese government translation of
"kill" reads "shortens your life," but an anti-
smoking
nongovernmental organization translates the word as "kills people
around you." The government version is like describing homicide as
injury. This official translation apparently reflects a political desire
to play down the evil effect of smoking. This has to do with the fact that
the Finance Ministry is a major shareholder in Japan Tobacco.
The government's halfhearted attitude toward
smoking is evident in the paltry funding provided for antismoking
measures. The health ministry's fiscal 2001 budget earmarks 37.88 million
yen, down 15 percent from the previous year. That is a shame. By contrast,
the U.S. government sets aside a huge sum equivalent to tens of billions
of yen.
There is only two years left before WHO adopts a
framework convention on tobacco control at a general meeting in May 2003.
At the first meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body on the WHO
Framework Convention on Tobacco Control held last October, the WHO
secretariat proposed moving up the voting date by one year. The meeting
itself, acting on a suggestion from the Brazilian chair, agreed on the
need to take action as soon as possible.
Japan lags far behind the world's no-smoking
movement. Cigarette vendors are ubiquitous. Smoking is allowed in
workplaces, taxis and restaurants. Tobacco advertising is hardly
restricted. The nation must make efforts to catch up with the global
trend.
Symbolic of Japan's lag is the fact that the
government, along with tobacco companies, has been the defendant in
tobacco lawsuits. The opposite is true in the U.S. States where state
governments sued tobacco companies, seeking huge compensation.
In 1998, for instance, seven Japanese with lung
cancer, larynx cancer, pulmonary emphysema and other ailments attributed
to smoking, filed a suit with the Tokyo District Court against the
government. The plaintiffs, two of whom died later, demanded compen-
sation
from the government and JT, on the grounds that (1) the health ministry
had failed to carry out its duty to protect the health of the people; and
(2) the Finance Ministry had neglected to order accurate and proper
labeling to prevent tobacco-related injuries.
During the 16th hearing, which was held in late
April, an economist specializing in medical affairs, speaking as a witness
for the plaintiffs, spent time explaining elementary subjects such as the
epidemiological relationship between smoking and lung cancer. In other
industrialized nations the relationship between active smoking and cancer
has already been officially recognized.
The witness deplored the fact that health injuries
from smoking are still an issue in Japanese courts, despite the fact that
world attention is shifting to damage from passive smoking. The hearing,
which I observed, left the strong impression that the defendants were
trying to prolong the trial by denying the epidemiological data submitted
to the court.
With the government in the position of defendant,
it is difficult to promote national antismoking measures. The government's
position will be further weakened if an inter- national treaty on tobacco
control is put in place. And if the five remaining plaintiffs win the
suit, millions of tobacco victims will file similar suits, and their
enormous demands for compensation could create a big hole in government
coffers.
In 1998 in America, tobacco companies agreed to
pay a total of $246 billion in settlement money to the 50 states that had
filed suits against them seeking refunds for medical expenses incurred in
connection with tobacco-related diseases. Japan Tobacco, a party to that
settlement, agreed to pay about $2 million each year to the state
governments. In light of the U.S. experience, the Japanese government and
JT should start negotiations with the plaintiffs to reach a settlement.
In addition to 10 million yen in per capita
compensation, the plaintiffs are demanding (1) the prohibition of tobacco
distribution to retailers with vendors, (2) a complete ban on tobacco
advertising, (3) the nonuse of tobacco brand and tobacco company names in
social events and programs, and (4) the enlargement of warning labels on
cigarette packs.
It seems the plaintiffs' real objective is to
induce the government to change its halfhearted antismoking measures,
rather than obtain compensation. If so, a settlement can be reached easily
once the government shifts the policy focus from securing tax revenue and
protecting tobacco farmers to defending the health of the people.
The Tobacco Business Law requires the government
to hold two-thirds or more of JT's shares. However, the company probably
will be completely privatized sooner or later, given the spirit in which
it shifted to private management in 1985. In fact, JT President Katsuhiko
Honda, speaking at a government panel on the fiscal system in February,
called for complete privatization so the company could use various methods
to raise capital.
Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry, while it has
control over JT, should direct efforts to establish new rules for tobacco
advertising, marketing and marking along the lines of an international
control regime now in the works.
Tobacco suits here bring to mind a recent Kumamoto
District Court ruling in a damage suit filed by leprosy sufferers who had
been segregated for many years under a government quarantine policy. The
ruling accused the health ministry of neglecting its duty and the Diet of
failing to take corrective legislative action. The government and the Diet
may also be accused of negligence if nothing is done about tobacco
disease, which kills 95,000 people each year.
In the 1997 white paper on health, the government
acknowledged for the first time that smoking is injurious to health. The
then health minister was Junichiro Koizumi. The hope is that his
reform-oriented administration will push antismoking measures on a
priority basis.
© Kiroku Hanai 2001 All
rights reserved
Further
tobacco-related articles by Kiroku Hanai:
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This page last updated 2009-12-31
Eyes on Japan compiled and edited by
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