By Omar Anderson, Gleaner WriterA PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE yesterday recommended that tobacco companies should be entitled to promote and sponsor a range of events, provided they do not promote their products simultaneously, backing down from an earlier position.
During yesterday's sitting of the Joint Select Committee on Human Resources and Social Development at Gordon House, the Committee amended recommendation 'C', that, if ratified by the House of Representatives, will see tobacco companies being able to conditionally sponsor and promote sporting, cultural, and entertainment events.
Previously, the committee had considered a total ban on such activity.
The idea was raised by Central Kingston Member of Parliament (MP) Victor Cummings, who urged that the recommendation be altered to reflect the varying contributions tobacco companies make to the society.
"I believe that they (tobacco companies) should not use cigarette as part of their sponsorship but the company itself should be allowed to sponsor," he said.
But committee chairman Dr. Donald Rhodd, questioned whether it would not amount to tobacco advertising, seeing that sponsorship usually involves the promotion of a company's product.
But citing an example, Mr. Cummings pointed to the Sportsman and Sports-woman of the Year award that Carreras underwrites annually. He noted that the event was not necessarily associated with any of the group's tobacco products.
Carreras has said it was considering its future involvement with the awards, given the current anti-smoking health debate.
Supporting their Central Kingston colleague, committee members, Dr. Patrick Harris (North Trelawny) and Ralston Anson (Western Hanover) said a tobacco company or group might well be engaged in selling other non-tobacco items such as computer parts.
Patrick Smith, head of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs at Carreras Group, reacting to the developments, said it was not necessarily good news, and flew in the face of the tobacco convention.
Mr. Smith said the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), to which Jamaica is a signatory, states clearly that tobacco companies should not promote any type of event, once these companies produce tobacco.
"It's not a question of whether you use a brand or not, the FCTC said you should not sponsor it," he told The Gleaner.
"It's an interesting twist. There's still a discussion going on, but this is something we will have to study."
The Committee decided yesterday to accept some 12 recommendations including banning smoking at Gordon House, as well as prohibiting government-run pharmacies from selling tobacco or tobacco-related products.
The members had contemplated recommending a ban as well on private pharmacies, but eventually decided against it.
In earlier sittings, the committee had considered a complete ban on tobacco companies sponsoring and promoting events.
Additionally, stakeholders had reasoned that despite the major contributions tobacco companies make they ought not to be involved in event sponsorship, a view the stakeholders said the World Health Organisation endorses.
Earlier this year, officials at Carreras Group Limited, a major tobacco-producing company in Jamaica, said it would fight Government's effort to ban tobacco advertising. The company had claimed, before the Joint Select Committee, that a ban on advertising could affect Carreras' profitability.
Mr. Rhodd said the tobacco report is expected to be tabled in Parliament when the new legislative year begins next month.
