| UICC GLOBALink Presents... |
|
The Tobacco Reference Guide |
| by David Moyer, MD. |
| | Chapter 27 International |
| | tobacco reference guideg (artefact pour |
| | International: Japan |
| | globalink (artefact pour saut de ligne) |
| | The Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare has only two employees in the "Health |
| | Promotion and Nutrition Section", and the 1994 budget to implement smoking |
| | regulation policies is only $180,000, 600 times less than the budget for AIDS |
| | problems. The Tobacco Business Law has the purpose "to promote the sound |
| | development of the Japanese tobacco industry, thereby securing stable national |
| | revenues." All tobacco policies are determined by the Ministry of Finance, not the |
| | Ministry of Health, and no Japanese law regulates smoking in the workplace. |
| | Topic Tobacco Problems Information Center, B. Watanabe (9th World Conference |
| | on Tobacco or Health, Paris, 1994) |
| | tobacco reference guideg (artefact pour saut |
| | Japan's state-owned tobacco monopoly was disbanded in 1985, but the government |
| | still owns two-thirds of its successor, Japan Tobacco. The company is regulated by |
| | the Ministry of Finance, which collects $16 billion a year in revenue from cigarette |
| | sales. 40% of all sales are from vending machines. |
| | San Francisco Examiner, May 18 1997, p. A14 |
| | tobacco reference guideg (artefact pour saut |
| | "Taxes on cigarettes are big revenue sources for the central and local governments. I |
| | will smoke as much as possible, while watching my health, and avoid imposing a |
| | burden on the medical insurance system budget." |
| | Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, a chain smoker (U.S. News and |
| | World Report, April 7, 1997, p. 15) |
| | tobacco reference guideg (artefact pour saut |
| | Smoking rates among 17-year-old boys in Japan increased from 26% in 1990 to 40% |
| | in 1996. Among girls the same age, rates increased from 5% to 15% in the same |
| | time period. Dr Judith Mackay notes, "Every other government has top-down policies |
| | to try to reduce smoking. But there's complete inertia in Japan." |
| | The Charlotte Observer, October 18, 1997 |
| | tobacco reference guideg (artefact pour saut |
| | tobacco reference guideg (artefact pour |
| | Monday, July 24, 2000 | Page 73 of 116 |
| | globalink (artefact pour saut de ligne) |
Last page of this chapter Copyright (©) 2000 - David Moyer - published on UICC GLOBALink |