The heat is on the tobacco industry in Guyana to play by new rules or face stiff penalties. On July 27, 2017, after a five-year process, efforts culminated in the passage of 
the National Tobacco Act, one of the most complete tobacco control laws in the Americas. “Many persons would say that smoking is a matter of choice,” said Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence.
“And yes, that choice goes both ways. It is a matter of choice that our citizens choose to smoke or not to smoke. But we have a responsibility and choice to make sure that, as a government, we provide the best care, that we educate our people and that we take the necessary precautions to ensure that our people do not end up on the opposite side of being healthy.”
Since the passage of the Act, the Ministry of Public Health has consulted with the industry several times. This resulted in the publication of the tobacco packaging and labeling regulations on May 26, last, giving the industry until February 25, 2019 to comply.
The tobacco industry is now required to submit samples of its products with complete packaging and labeling to the Ministry of Public Health for approval before the deadline. Non-compliance with labeling and packaging requirements of tobacco products can result in a maximum penalty of $200,000 for businesses and a maximum penalty of $9M for the corporate bodies in the tobacco industry.
Attorney-at-Law, Kesaundra Alves, who has been a consultant to the Ministry of Public Health on the tobacco legislation said that the regulations speak to the general labeling and health. As part of the new requirements, 60 percent of the packaging and labeling of tobacco products must bear graphic pictorial health warnings provided by the Ministry of Public Health. The other 40 percent is for branding. These health warnings must highlight the harmful effects of tobacco.
Estimates indicate that the Government will lose $4B in taxes because of the new rules. But health officials say that the country uses more tax dollars to care for those that fall ill to tobacco smoke. Tobacco is responsible for 7 million deaths per year worldwide. This includes 900,000 persons who die from diseases related to exposure to tobacco smoke. If current trends continue, tobacco use will kill 10 million people per year by 2020. Seventy percent of these fatalities will occur in less-developed and emerging nations.
According to health officials, Guyana is a developing nation where 78% of all deaths are caused by non-communicable diseases (NCDs), strongly related to tobacco use. Over 15% of the adult population currently smokes and, more worryingly, the results of a Global Youth Tobacco Survey conducted in 2015 revealed that 14.8% of adolescents aged between 13 and 15 years also use tobacco.
“We don’t want people to smoke; that’s the truth. Therefore, we are giving them all of the information. This is part of a number of measures we are implementing to fight the tobacco epidemic,” Alves stated. Guyana’s efforts to reign in the tobacco industry have not gone unnoticed. The Ministry of Public Health received an award in 2018 from the World Health Organisation (WHO) for their accomplishments in tobacco control.
This recognition was for the outstanding leadership of the Ministry which led to the approval of the country’s comprehensive Tobacco Control Act. This law, according to the Pan American Organization (PAHO), positions Guyana as one of the most advanced CARICOM countries in the implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. “Ensuring the protection of a country’s population from the adverse effects of tobacco is a marathon process, requiring stamina, coordination, perseverance, dedication and support; but the payoff is huge – the improved health and wellbeing of citizens,” PAHO states.
Guyana is one of the latest countries in the region to run this marathon. According to PAHO, this outstanding success, however, brings a new set of challenges, and the race continues to ensure the Right to Health of the citizens of Guyana with the enforcement of these measures to protect the population from the dangers of tobacco smoke.
“It is critical to ensure that the measures outlined in the Act are implemented immediately, while at the same time countering the threats posed by interference from the local tobacco industry aimed at reversing these public health gains,” PAHO notes.