House Republicans voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Aljandro Mayorkas accusing him with refusal to comply with immigration laws and breach of public trust. Vice President Kamala Harris heads to Germany to reassure NATO allies that they can rely on U.S. support. And exit polls show Indonesia’s defense minister will be the new president of a country that plays a role in the South China Sea security.
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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Kelsey Snell, Roberta Rampton, Miguel Macias, and Mohamad ElBardicy. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Ben Abrams and Lilly Quiroz. We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. And our technical director is Neisha Heinis.
Description automatically generatedTobacco industry-propelled epidemic of tobacco-caused diseases and untimely deaths continue to plague human development. Despite significant progress on tobacco control, endgame of tobacco – which is a human rights and social justice imperative – is not yet in sight. The recently released 7th edition of Tobacco Atlas shows that while global smoking prevalence in adults has declined from 22.7% in 2007 to 19.6% in 2019, we still have 1.3 billion tobacco users in the world. The progress on the endgame of tobacco is threatened by the growing tobacco smoking rates among children aged 13 to 15 years in many countries, and by tobacco industry tactics targeting poorer countries with weak regulatory environments and pushing so-called ‘novel’ products in previously untapped markets.
It is a warning call to all those who care about global health and economic development. Urgent and sustained efforts are needed to aggressively regulate the harmful tobacco industry and its products to save lives, and spur economic growth, said Jeffrey Drope, lead author of the Tobacco Atlas.
Tobacco use remains a global epidemic. Besides being a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases, it leads to an estimated nearly 9 million deaths globally every year (almost 8 million deaths due to tobacco use and 1 million deaths from exposure to second-hand smoke) and economic losses of nearly USD 2 trillion. 1.9 million (21%) of these deaths occur in the World Health Organization (WHO)’s southeast Asia region that comprises 11 countries- Bangladesh, Bhutan, DPR Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Timor-Leste.
With 26% of the world’s population, the southeast Asia region reported the highest prevalence of tobacco use (28%) amongst all WHO regions globally in 2020. The region is not only one of the largest producers and consumers of tobacco products globally, but is also home to 20% of world’s adult smokers (241 million) and 34% (14.8 million) of the world’s tobacco consuming young population (13-15 years). Moreover, it has 82% (301 million) of the global smokeless tobacco (SLT) users and boasts of having the highest prevalence (7.3%) of SLT use in young people.
And this is despite the fact that all countries of the region, except Indonesia, having ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) that aims to protect everyone from the devastating health, social, environmental and economic consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke. It provides the foundation for countries to implement and manage tobacco control through MPOWER-a set of six cost-effective key strategies to fight the global tobacco epidemic. But compliance of these strategies remains poor.
Although current tobacco use among adults in Indonesia is high at 34%, it is still less than that in Myanmar (54%), Timor Leste (49%), and Bangladesh (35%). In fact, current tobacco use among adults in the region is highest in Myanmar.
Bhutan has won accolades for being the only country in this region (and in the world) that has banned the production, manufacturing and sale of all tobacco products since 2004 – the same year it had ratified the global tobacco treaty (WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control). Yet, as per the Tobacco Atlas (2020) for WHO southeast Asian region, current tobacco use in Bhutan is 25%, which is higher than that in DPR Korea (22%), Thailand (21%) and Maldives (20%). It also has the second highest percentage of young tobacco users (22%) in the region after Timor Leste (42%). Prevalence of tobacco smoking is also high at 17% , which is just second to Indonesia (19%). Similarly in smokeless tobacco use, Bhutan at 13% is second to Nepal (16%). One reason for this high tobacco consumption could be that its 2010 directive allowed a heavily taxed and controlled import of tobacco products. Moreover, in 2020 it lifted this ban, purportedly to reduce the risk of imported Covid-19 infections arising out of cross border smuggling of tobacco products.
Nepal is the only country in southeast Asia region which has banned the use of all kinds of tobacco products in public places, including smokeless tobacco products, since 2011. But, it has the highest prevalence of smoking among women (10%) in the region.
When it comes to the youth (13-15 years), Timor-Leste boasts of highest smokeless tobacco use at 42% as well as highest prevalence of tobacco smoking at 35%.
Tobacco industry interference is alarmingly high
Tobacco industry interference is high, with 3 big transnational tobacco companies- Philip Morris International (PMI), British American Tobacco (BAT) and Japan Tobacco International (JTI) – dominating the southeast Asia region. Bangladesh, Indonesia and India have high tobacco industry interference in policy development. Their tobacco industry interference index (on a scale of 100) are 83, 79 and 72, respectively.
Tobacco industry’s dominance and interference under the garb of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, and governments’ involvement with the industry through owning their shares and nominating key government officials to hold positions in tobacco companies through the revolving door policy, hinder proper implementation of tobacco control measures, had said Barrister Shameem Haider Patwary, the firebrand Member of Parliament (MP) from Bangladesh, who was speaking as faculty in Johns Hopkins School of Public Health’s South Asia Leadership Course on Tobacco Control. He called for a very strong political leadership, high political commitment, adequate resource allocation and a holistic approach at national, regional and global levels for effective tobacco control initiatives in this region.
Dr Tara Singh Bam, Asia Pacific Regional Director of The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) said to CNS (Citizen News Service): “Tobacco industry tactics to thwart, dilute and delay implementation of tobacco control measures can be countered by building a team that goes beyond the health sector and involves academia, media, teachers, politicians, lawyers, social volunteers. It has to be team work. We have to be persistent in our efforts through sustained engagement with governments to make them accountable so that they in turn make the industry accountable. We have to build local leadership to support tobacco control efforts at national and regional level.”
Good practices are there but scale up too slow
However there are some good practice examples too. There is a ban on tobacco advertising in all countries of the region and all countries, except Indonesia, have banned smoking in public places. Nepal, Maldives and Thailand have banned advertising, promotion and CSR activities of tobacco companies. E-cigarettes are banned in 6 out of 11 countries of southeast Asia region- Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste. Thailand imposes a very high tax of 78.6% on cigarettes.
Some countries have also made good progress in implementing larger pictorial/graphic health warnings (PHW) on tobacco products, which is an evidence backed effective measure to reduce tobacco use. Timor Leste has enforced the largest PWH (92.5%) on tobacco packs, followed closely by Nepal (90%), Maldives (90%), India (85%) and Thailand (85%).
Nandita Murukutla, Vice President of Research at Vital Strategies, calls for increasing tobacco taxes as they can drive down smoking rates, deter initiation among youth, and generate revenue that can pay for other health interventions. She cites graphic pack warnings and plain packaging as other proven high-impact, low-cost interventions, and insists upon investing more in media as media campaigns can reshape social norms and drive millions to quit.
Tobacco not only damages the health of people but also destroys our environment, through the cultivation, production, distribution, consumption, and post-consumer waste of tobacco products. Keeping this in mind, the theme of World No Tobacco Day 2022 is “Tobacco: Threat to our environment”. It aims to raise awareness among the public on the environmental impact of tobacco and to expose efforts by tobacco companies to “greenwash” their reputation by marketing themselves as environmentally friendly. This global campaign calls for reducing tobacco consumption as a key lever for achieving all of the Sustainable Development Goals and not just those directly related to health.
Shobha Shukla – CNS (Citizen News Service)
(Shobha Shukla is the award-winning founding Managing Editor and Executive Director of CNS (Citizen News Service) and is a feminist, health and development justice advocate. She is a former senior Physics faculty of prestigious Loreto Convent College and current Coordinator of Asia Pacific Regional Media Alliance for Health and Development (APCAT Media). Follow her on Twitter @shobha1shukla or read her writings here www.bit.ly/ShobhaShukla)
13 killed, scores injured following Volcanic Eruption in Indonesia
At least 13 people have been killed and dozens suffered severe burns after the Mount Semeru volcano in Indonesia’s East Java province erupted.
The country’s spokesperson for disaster mitigation agency (BNPB), Abdul Muhari, said the highest volcano on Indonesia’s most densely populated island of Java erupted on Saturday around 3 p.m.
The eruption was triggered by thunderstorms and days of rain sending volcanic ash into the Indian Ocean in the southern part of Java island.
Muhari added that at least Ninety-eight were injured, including two pregnant women, 10 others were still trapped and 902 have been evacuated.
The eruption separated a strategic bridge connecting two areas in the nearby district of Lumajang with the city of Malang both of which are on Java, an island of close to 150 million people in the Indonesian archipelago and decimated buildings, Reuters reported.
Semeru, at more than 3,600m high, is among Indonesia’s nearly 130 active volcanoes. It erupted in January, causing no casualties.
Indonesia straddles the “Pacific Ring of Fire”, a highly seismically active zone, where different plates on the earth’s crust meet and create a large number of earthquakes and volcanoes.
A zookeeper has been killed after two critically endangered Sumatran tigers escaped from a zoo on Borneo island.
The female tigers, both aged about 18 months, escaped the Sinka Zoo after a landslide caused by days of torrential rain damaged their enclosure.
On Saturday, one of the animals was captured after it was hit with a tranquiliser dart.
But the other tiger was shot dead after it behaved aggressively and attempts to tranquilise it failed.
The 47-year-old zookeeper was found dead close to the tigers’ enclosure after the animals escaped late on Friday. He had bite wounds and scratches on his body, the AFP news agency reports.
A number of dead animals, including an ostrich and a monkey, had earlier been found near the enclosure.
The escape triggered a large-scale hunt in the town of Singkawang, West Kalimantan. Nearby tourist attractions were ordered to close by police and people were told to stay at home.
And while officials hoped to catch both animals alive – they said they were forced to shoot one of the tigers.
“We tried with a tranquilliser gun first but it didn’t work, so we were forced to shoot the tiger because it was already behaving very aggressively,” Sadtata Noor Adirahmanta, the head of a local conservation agency, told AFP.
“We were afraid it would escape to the nearest neighbourhood,” he added. “Although we tried our best to catch it alive, our priority is humans’ safety.”
A cage filled with animal prey was prepared in an attempt to lure the remaining tiger back to the zoo at feeding time.
Drones were also used to try to locate the tiger in the dense forest surrounding the zoo. “We had a hard time finding them,” the local police chief told CNN Indonesia.
But officials managed to capture it alive after shooting it with a tranquiliser dart. The animal is now being monitored at the zoo by medical experts.
Sumatran tigers are critically endangered, with fewer than 400 believed to be left in the wild.
Indonesian divers on Sunday located parts of the wreckage of a Boeing 737-500 at a depth of 23 meters (75 feet) in the Java Sea, a day after the aircraft with 62 people onboard crashed shortly after takeoff from Jakarta.
“We received reports from the diver team that the visibility in the water is good and clear, allowing the discovery of some parts of the plane,” Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto said in a statement. “We are sure that is the point where the plane crashed.”
He said the objects included broken pieces of fuselage with aircraft registration parts.
Earlier, rescuers pulled out body parts, pieces of clothing and scraps of metal from the surface.
“Hopefully until this afternoon the current conditions and the view under the sea are still good so that we can continue the search,” he said.
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The break in the search for Sriwijaya Air Flight 182 came after sonar equipment on a navy ship detected a signal from the aircraft at a location that fit the coordinates from the last contact made by the pilots before the plane went missing on Saturday afternoon.
It’s still unclear what caused the crash. There was no sign of survivors.
“I represent the government and all Indonesians in expressing my deep condolences for this tragedy,” President Joko Widodo said.
“We are doing our best to save the victims. We pray together so that the victims can be found,” he said, adding that he had asked the National Transport Safety Committee to conduct an investigation.
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Fishermen in the area between Lancang and Laki islands, part of an archipelago around Thousand Islands north of Jakarta’s coast, reported hearing an explosion around 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
“We heard something explode, we thought it was a bomb or a tsunami since after that we saw the big splash from the water,” Solihin, who goes by one name, told The Associated Press by phone.
“It was raining heavily and the weather was so bad. So it is difficult to see around clearly. But we can see the splash and a big wave after the sounds. We were very shocked and directly saw the plane debris and the fuel around our boat.”
Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said Flight SJ182 was delayed for an hour before it took off at 2:36 p.m. It disappeared from radar four minutes later, after the pilot contacted air traffic control to ascend to an altitude of 29,000 feet (8,839 meters), he said.
There were 62 people on board, including seven children and three babies.
“We are aware of media reports from Jakarta regarding Sriwijaya Air flight SJ-182,” Boeing said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with the crew, passengers, and their families. We are in contact with our airline customer and stand ready to support them during this difficult time.”
Authorities established two crisis centers, one at airport and one at port. Families gathered to wait for news of loved ones.
On social media, people began circulating the flight manifesto with photos and videos of those who were listed as passengers. One video shows a woman with her children waving goodbye while walking through the airport.
Sriwijaya Air President Director Jefferson Irwin Jauwena said the plane, which is 26 years old and previously used by airlines in the United States, was airworthy. He told reporters Saturday that the plane had previously flown to Pontianak and Pangkal Pinang city on the same day.
“Maintenance report said everything went well and airworthy,” Jauwena told a news conference. He said the plane was delayed due to bad weather, not because of any damage.
Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago nation, with more than 260 million people, has been plagued by transportation accidents on land, sea and air because of overcrowding on ferries, aging infrastructure and poorly enforced safety standards.
In October 2018, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 jet operated by Lion Air plunged into the Java Sea just minutes after taking off from Jakarta, killing all 189 people on board.
The plane involved in Saturday’s incident did not have the automated flight-control system that played a role in the Lion Air crash and another crash of a 737 MAX 8 jet in Ethiopia five months later, leading to the grounding of the MAX 8 for 20 months.
The Lion Air crash was Indonesia’s worst airline disaster since 1997, when 234 people were killed on a Garuda airlines flight near Medan on Sumatra island. In December 2014, an AirAsia flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore plunged into the sea, killing 162 people.
Sriwijaya Air has only has several minor incidents in the past, though a farmer was killed in 2008 when landing plane went off runway due to a hydraulic issue.
The United States banned Indonesian carriers from operating in the country in 2007, but reversed the decision in 2016, citing improvements in compliance with international aviation standards. The European Union has previously had similar bans, lifting them in June 2018.
