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By Fareeza HaniffProject Officer, Eshwar Raghunath. Since August,Nike NFL Jerseys China, a standard which was developed to regulate the labeling and packaging of tobacco products, has been sitting on the desk of the Tourism Minister to be taken to Cabinet,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, in order to get its approval.This standard, when approved by Cabinet, will ensure that there is a 50 per cent pictorial health warning on the top half (back and front) of cigarette packages.Project Officer of the Guyana Chest Society, Eshwar Raghunath, told Kaieteur News yesterday that the Tourism Ministry does not seem to taking the issue seriously, as the standard is still at the level of that Ministry.In 2005, Guyana signed onto the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC),Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping, where there are several articles within that treaty that address the control of tobacco as well as its demand and supply.Since then, Governments had three years to implement the various principles of the treaty but Guyana is in breach of Article 11, which deals specifically with the packaging and labeling of tobacco products.This article demands that Governments implement pictorial health warnings on cigarette packages, but to date,NFL Jerseys Authentic China, this is still to be done in Guyana.According to Raghunath, the Guyana Chest Society has been on a technical Committee Board with the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS),NFL Jerseys Outlet, where it was agreed on the 50 per cent pictorial warnings.In June,Discount NFL Jerseys, the standard was then taken to public consultations for an input from the private sector. It was widely accepted and the standard was processed and finalised by the GNBS through the National Standard Council in August.However, since then, the standard was forwarded to the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce which is responsible for taking it to cabinet, in order for the standard to become mandatory. “It’s been with the Ministry since August and to date we haven’t heard anything. I have tried on a few occasions to meet with the Minister, but so far this has not been successful,” Raghunath told Kaieteur News during an interview.He explained that at one time, the Ministry claimed that the standard was misplaced and he requested another. “Basically it’s stuck there and we are already behind our deadline and we have not heard a thing from the Tourism Ministry.”Raghunath is of the opinion that the Tourism Ministry is not taking the matter seriously, as there might be some private sector influence involved.“I do not think they are taking this issue seriously. I think there might be industry influence somewhere along the line.”But what Raghunath finds surprising is the fact that after the public consultations were held, the private sector was given another chance to comment on the standard in keeping with a request from the Tourism Minister.“Now all of a sudden they wrote this letter with all these amendments they want to make that they can’t do the labeling and it will be expensive to print and all sort of stuff.”But the project officer noted that the standard is at a level where it cannot be amended. He explained that after the standard is approved by Cabinet, then the private sector has a six months grace period to implement it.“I want the Tourism Minister to give us a timeline as to when this standard is expected to reach Cabinet. That is all we need now because given the fact that we (Guyana) are one year behind the implementation, then these donor funding agencies will lose interest and confidence in Guyana.” |
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