Tobacco Control Commission Calls for Cigarette Ads Ban on TV
13 January 2017 08:30 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The National Commission on Tobacco Control (Komnas PT) and tobacco control activists have backed the House of Representatives (DPR) Commission I plans to ban cigarette ads on broadcast media. Komnas PT official Muhammad Joni said in a written statement Thursday that bans on cigarette ads, promotion and sponsorships set forth in draft revision of Broadcasting Law is a breakthrough that conforms to the Health Law and the Constitutional Court’s (MK) ruling.
The Commission I’s plans represent lawmakers’ concerns to protection of children and teenagers who are the main target of cigarette ads, he said. On complete ban on cigarette ads, the DPR has shown its support to tobacco control and protection of people.
The Commission I is currently deliberating on draft revision of Law No. 32 of 2002 on Broadcasting. The DPR had earlier stipulated bans on cigarette ads in a draft revision made on December 2016.
Revisions to Broadcasting Law have been carried out by the current lawmakers’ predecessors. The article on cigarette ads ban, however, was scrapped on the final deliberation. “We don’t want a repeat of such bad precedent. We have to keep the pressure on until the draft revision is passed,” he said.
Article 113 of Law No. 36 of 2009 on Health expresses that tobacco contains addictive substances. In 2012, the Constitutional Law rejected a judicial review of the law’s Article 113 and 116 and ruled that tobacco was in the category of addictive substances.
The two rules are the strong legal basis for bans on cigarette ads on any media. Indonesia is not alone, as 144 countries, including underdeveloped countries of Namibia and Ethiopia, have banned cigarette ads on broadcast media.
A research conducted by Nina Mutmainnah Armado & Co. of the University of Indonesia (UI) in 2012 show that in a span of two months, a television channel could show 25 cigarette brands in 48 versions.
Other survey conducted by UHAMKA and the National Commission on Child Protection nine months ago, show that 97 percent of children said they had seen cigarette ads on television. Around 46.3 percent of teenagers said they started smoking after watching cigarette ads, 50 percent of them felt to have emulated what was depicted in cigarette ads and 29 percent of them light a cigarette when they saw cigarette ads.
NUR HASIM
