Blowing smoke

After conscientiously following the Sin Tax committee hearings for the past few weeks, suddenly there was zilch coverage. Dead silence. Media appeared to have been blighted deaf and dumb. Or could there have been “incentives” from those-whose-name-must-not-be-spoken?

On his FB wall, Secretary Purisima posted this plea.

“There is a total news blackout of the health issue in the sin tax debate. There was zero cover of yesterday’s dramatic testimonies on the ill effects of smoking and the role of taxation in reducing consumption. Lobby vs sin tax is very obvious. We will push hard for DOF version despite vigorous opposition from vested interests. We need your help.”

Last Thursday’s hearing was particularly newsworthy as it covered testimony on the adverse effects of smoking. Among those invited at the hearing was the group of ex-smokers who spoke through a mechanical larynx that made their voice sound like a weaker version of Darth Vader. Some had developed throat cancer and attributed the holes in their throat to nonstop smoking.

In a heartrending story featured in BBC, a woman named Debi, who first picked up the vice at age 13, developed throat cancer at age 41. She had surgery and was fitted with a stoma, literally, a hole in the neck. But her addiction to nicotine was so extreme; she continued to smoke through the stoma even after her bout with life-threatening cancer.

“I light the cigarette with suction from my mouth, and after it’s lit I put it to the stoma. I’d like to say I just take a little puff, but you don’t, you get all that you can,” she recounts with desperation.

Medical experts have said that nicotine dependence is harder to break than heroine, cocaine or shabu cravings combined. There is strong evidence to support this opinion even though cigarette manufacturers have steadfastly denied that nicotine was addicting.

Dr. Victor DeNoble was a former research scientist at Philip Morris in the ’80s. In laboratory experiments, he proved that nicotine was indeed exceptionally addictive.

Using rats that could ingest nicotine by pressing a lever, he observed that they would take it first thing in the morning, throughout the day and last thing at night. The rodents were actually mimicking a habitual smoker’s routine.

The experiments were profoundly revealing and scientifically undisputable. It proved beyond doubt that cigarette smoking was a biological process of addiction, not just a habit.

Philip Morris ordered DeNoble not to publish his findings. He was told to destroy all his work. He managed to keep some of his notes, but these didn’t become public until ten years later. The experiment was padlocked. Company lawyers moved into the room next to the laboratory. Years of painstaking study went up in smoke.

Phillip Morris suppressed its own evidence for years, insisting that nicotine was a non-addictive substance. It held on to the official line that smoking was just a habit and not a compulsion.

In 1994, seven CEOs from tobacco companies testified at a US Congressional hearing that in their opinion, nicotine was not addictive. But later, documents taken from Brown and Williamson fell into the hands of the anti-smoking lobby. One document clearly started with the line “we are in the business of selling nicotine, an addictive drug.” 

The documents were sent to Professor Stan Glants of the University of California, who promptly turned them over to the university library, which posted them on the Internet.

Glants said, “They knew nicotine was addictive in 1963, they knew smoking caused cancer in the 50s, and they had elaborate and intelligent plans to keep it covered up, to keep it away from the public and to keep people smoking.”

Anti-smoking advocates finally had their smoking gun. The lies perpetuated by the tobacco industry ended in one of the biggest class suit settlements in the history of the US.

Over here, the infamous Philip Morris apparently used smoke-and-mirrors too in their stand against the Abaya bill. Senator Franklin Drilon did not mince words when he revealed the “flip-flopping” of the cigarette manufacturer.

“Philip Morris is opposing the administration’s proposed measure, citing the unitary tax as among the objectionable features,” fumed the Senator.

But in a letter dated February 5, 2003 from Managing Director George Farah to PGMA, they supported a uniform specific tax for cigarettes and a “level playing field” for all manufacturers.

Drilon read excerpts of the letter:

“… our proposal is that the current four (4) tier specific system should be changed to a single tier specific system over a period of 3 years. In the first year, two specific tax tiers should replace the current four (4)-tier system, with a reduction in the gap between the two tax tiers in the second year. In the third (3) year, the two specific tax tiers should be merged into a single specific rate applied equally on all cigarettes.

This proposal should increase estimated excise tax collection on cigarettes by P8.5 billion or 43.8% above 2001 actual collection. Over 3 years, this proposal is estimated to increase tax collection by 91.8% compared with 2001...”

But in 2010, in a classic “if-you-can’t-beat-them-join-them” move— Philip Morris merged with Fortune Tobacco to form PMFTI.

The joint-force and their trusty Congress allies are now attempting to smoke-out the “sweet spot.” Senator Ralph Recto defines this as “the effective rate to generate revenues, curb smoking and binge drinking, reduce economic costs in healthcare, productivity and premature death losses.”

The Philippines has 17.3M smokers with the largest segments coming from the youth and the poor; Lung cancer among women smokers causes 80% fatality; we have the cheapest cigarettes in Asia. No sweet spot here.

The unitary tax rate as adopted in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and other countries has deterred smoking by up to 10%.

“Blowing smoke,” means to deceive. The original idiom was derived from the tobacco smoke enema, a pseudo-treatment of European physicians from 1750-1810. Smoke was infused into a patient’s rectum to resuscitate drowning victims, alleviate gut pain, colds, hernia etc. The practice stopped when nicotine was discovered to be poisonous.

Unfortunately, some unscrupulous cigarette-makers are still blowing smoke up their a_ _.

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