Within the next two weeks, the Trinidad and Tobago Cancer Society (TTCS) will present to the public a formal policy blocking tobacco industry funding, the chairman of the society George Laquis has said. Laquis spoke with the T&T Guardian in a telephone interview yesterday after the society issued a release on the policy.
Announcement of the policy was made on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day which is observed worldwide today. The Tobacco-Free Funding Policy will ensure that donations, goods and services from the tobacco industry and organisations publicly associated with tobacco companies are not accepted.
Laquis said the policy presentation was primarily for "public knowledge" because there appeared to be confusion about who the society liaised with. He said large donations from associate tobacco companies had recently been refused, adding that this had always been the society's policy. "There are no circumstances under which it is appropriate to collaborate with or take money from tobacco companies," Laquis also said.
In March, the society publicly accused the West Indian Tobacco Company (Witco) of not complying with the Tobacco Control Act by advertising cigarettes on dispensers. "Although we accept that the tobacco companies are allowed to operate, we expect them to obey the law because we're dealing with an industry that kills its customers," he said.
Laquis said thousands of people were suffering from lung cancer, the leading cause of death by cancer locally. The release said tobacco was a main risk factor for "several non-communicable diseases, including cancer, lung and cardiovascular diseases."
Globally, six million people die each year from illnesses caused by tobacco, 600,000 of whom as a result of exposure to second hand smoke, the release also said. A World Health Organisation initiative, this year's World No Tobacco Day theme is "Tobacco industry interference."
