Country warned of tobacco law loophole
SENATOR DR Saphire Longmore has called for a rethink to a provision in the Tobacco Control Act, 2020, as language in a provision could be exploited by players in the industry.
Longmore, a psychiatrist, told fellow lawmakers and members of a technical team engaged in a lively debate Wednesday as a joint select committee reviewed the proposed law that seeks to prohibit advertising and promotion of tobacco sponsorships but make exceptions in certain circumstances.
Section 24 (5) (a) of the proposed statute prohibits advertising of tobacco products, relevant products, or tobacco sponsorships, except for depictions of their use in media where the representation is purely incidental or is justified by reasons of historical accuracy or legitimate journalistic, artistic or academic expression.
The senator said the word ‘incidental’ in the provision could be exploited by players in the industry.
“We have no issue with the historical accuracy, legitimate journalistic or academic expression, but our issue is with the incidental and what could be potentially abused,” Long more maintained.
Albert Edwards, attorney-at-law and consultant with the Ministry of Health, said that the legislation was seeking to strike a balance.
“Looking at the issue from a strictly legal point of view, we have to balance what is the likely harm from an artistic production and historical production incidentally displaying a prohibited product, not for advertising purposes,” he said.
But Sheryl Dennis Wright, attorney-at-law and consultant with the Pan American Health Organisation, agreed with Longmore.
She argued that it would be good to remove the “purely incidental” from the provision, noting that “if you were to keep it, it is one of the provisions that the industry can easily take advantage of”.