World No Tobacco Day is celebrated each year on 31 May and in 2012 it was a day focused on tobacco industry interference. Tobacco is one of the largest public health threats as it single-handedly causes 6 million deaths a year and is responsible for one-tenth of cardiovascular disease worldwide. In the Netherlands, where tobacco industry influence has compromised health policy, heart-health professionals are taking a stand.
Dutch Government steps back on comprehensive tobacco control
Maintaining that smoking is a matter of personal choice, over the past three years the Dutch Minister of Health, Edith Schippers, has reversed the country’s progress in tobacco control. It began with a smoking ban exemption to allow smoking in small bars, weakening overall enforcement of the ban. Then, funding for the national centre on tobacco control (STIVORO) was revoked. Finally, the reimbursements for the integrated smoking-cessation treatment were discontinued, even though they had effectively reduced smoking prevalence.
Health advocates questioned why the government had compromised its commitment to the health of its citizens when each year 23,000 Dutch people die of tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure. Late in 2011, the Dutch television program “Zembla” offered an explanation by revealing interviews and email correspondence that uncovered the close relationship Minister Schippers had with the tobacco industry, dubbing her “Minister of Tobacco.”
Countering tobacco industry influence on health policy
In response, the Dutch Heart Foundation, Cancer Society and Asthma Foundation have funded the shadow report, Dutch tobacco control: Out of control? The report measures current Dutch policy against the legal obligations and standards set out by the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). “We would have liked to present the report to Minister Schippers, but this was not possible so we found a lookalike, a ‘shadow minister’ who accepted the report in a launch event,” said Dr Hans Stam, Vice President of the World Heart Federation. This shadow report followed up on a letter published earlier in The Lancet in which the World Heart Federation, European Heart Network and the Dutch Heart Foundation joined tobacco control and health organizations and experts from around Europe to protest developments in Dutch tobacco control.
The Dutch coalition will continue to fight to rebuild national tobacco-control policy as a new government is being put into place. “The silver lining of the financial crisis has been that the government desperately needs money, so it finally agreed to raise tobacco taxes…. at least they are improving in one area of FCTC implementation. It proves you should never waste a good financial crisis to advance your goals,” concluded Dr Stam.
Further information
• WHO site on World No Tobacco Day
• World Heart Federation information on World No Tobacco Day
• Download the shadow report Dutch tobacco control: Out of control?
• See the European Heart Network release: Smokescreen Lifted on Tobacco Industry Tactics
• Video from Zembla about the “Minister of Tobacco”
• Read the letter published in The Lancet
• More on the FCTC
