The Upper East Regional Office of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has intensified education on tobacco control measures to check its use in the Region.
The Authority, through its Regional Head, Mr Sebastian Mawuli Hotor, emphasised that “There is no safe form of tobacco use,” and cautioned members of the public to be wary of the harmful effects of tobacco to their bodies.
“It is so harmful that there is nothing safe about it, and it can destroy from the crown of your head to the bottom of your feet. They don’t realise the extent of harm that tobacco products can cause, so they downplay its harmful effects,” he added.
Mr Hotor said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency after a training workshop for hotel, restaurant and supermarket operators in the Region on tobacco control measures, saying it was the Authority’s quest to ensure “Zero tolerance for tobacco use in the future.”
He said the series of workshops by the FDA for the operators including food vendors, was to enable them to improve their knowledge on the harmful effects of tobacco, inculcate good food handling practices, promote food safety and self-compliance in food services among others.
On prohibition of smoking at public places, Mr Hotor said per the Public Health Act 2012, Act 851, Section 58, a person shall not smoke tobacco or a tobacco product, hold a lighted tobacco product in an enclosed indoor or indoor area of a workplace or public area, except in a designated smoking area.
He explained that public places included transport and their terminals, markets and all forms of entertainment facilities where two or more people are gathered.
Mr Hotor told participants at the workshop that any person who sold tobacco had to display a health warning sign, which would be determined by the FDA.
He said the Authority frowned on requests by adults for children below 18 years to buy, sell or even light tobacco for them, “As much as possible, the law protects children from being exposed to tobacco use because of their vulnerability.”
He called on stakeholders, especially parents, to monitor their children and ensure they were not influenced by tobacco users, and advised those whose children were already initiated into tobacco use, to immediately seek rehabilitation for them.
“So, we want to draw the attention of stakeholders and parents to be mindful of these, and make sure they are educated so that they do not get attracted and initiated into such habits,” he advised.
Mr Hotor said there were laws that governed tobacco smoking in the country, “If you don’t have a designated smoking area, you cannot allow your customers to smoke because it becomes harmful to those who don’t smoke.
“That is why the ban on smoking in public places was put in place since 2012. So we want to advise all institutions, entertainment facilities to put ‘no smoking’ signs in all their facilities and make sure that they prevent people from smoking in their facilities, so that we will be able to ensure that the health of those who do not smoke is not compromised by those who smoke,” he said.
Some participants after the workshop expressed gratitude to the management of the FDA in the Region, saying even though the information provided by the officials of the Authority on tobacco products were not new to them, the workshop was a refresher programme for them to continue to operate their business with the safety of the public in mind.
