World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) is observed on May 31. As this day approaches, Knowledge to Policy (K2P) Center at the Faculty of Health Sciences at the American University of Beirut
(AUB) has launched a Rapid Response document “Prompting Government Action for Tobacco
Control in Lebanon during COVID-19 Pandemic”. The launch took place at a press conference
on Tuesday, May 19, 2020 at the AUB. The document includes immediate government measures
to reduce smoking amid this health crisis, in addition to a long-term road map, to enforce Law
174 and eliminate conflicts of interest between tobacco industry and their allies at the expense of
public health. These measures involve all concerned ministries, namely the Ministry of Public
Health, the Ministry of Economy and Trade, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Interior and
Municipalities, the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Transport, and the Ministry of
Information, to form multi-sector executive forces and specialists to re-instate the laws, their
value, and importance in securing public welfare.
This conference was held in the framework of the gradual easing of lockdown, and the Ministry of the Interior issuing a memorandum
concerning the opening and closing of institutions, including restaurants, citizens will gradually
return to restaurants and cafes under conditions, the most important of which is NOT
PROVIDING nargileh to customers, due to its role in increasing infection with the novel
coronavirus, COVID-19.
But what about the post-COVID-19 period and the phase following the end of the General
Mobilization?
Law 174 “Tobacco Control and Regulation of Tobacco Products’ Manufacturing, Packaging and
Advertising” was ratified in 2011 and came into effect in 2012. With this question about post-COVID-19 and post-general mobilization period, the annulment of the application of some
provisions of Law 174 is now in focus. Law 174 was met with many vicious campaigns by some
who preferred their own profit to public welfare, specifically for the prohibition of smoking in
closed public places. In addition, the $1 million donation to the Lebanese government by the
Régie Libanaise (the Lebanese Tobacco and Tunbac Monopoly Department) for the purchase of
ventilators and to repatriate students in financial difficulties outside Lebanon is a clear violation
of Article 5.3 of the WHO Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), signed
by Lebanon in 2005.
Conference participants were Dr. Rima Nakkash, co-director of the K2P Center and Associate Profesor at the FHS' Department of Health Promotion and Community Health; MP. Assem
Araji, cardiologist and chief of the Parliamentary Health Committee; Rana Saleh, advocacy and
evidence leas specialist at the K2P Center; Dr. Imad Bou Akl, pulmonary medicine and
pulmonary blood hypertension specialist at AUBMC; and Mrs. Rania Baroud, media
professional and advocate for Law 174. Dr. Bou Akl explained the relationship between smoking and the increased risk of sustaining serious
complications among COVID-19 patients who are smokers, as well as increasing the risk of
infection through reduced immunity, increased vulnerability to respiratory infection, repeated
face-hands contacts, and through sharing various parts of the nargileh (water chamber, tube,
plastic mouth piece) which disregards the principle of social distancing.
In her turn, Dr. Nakkash stated that today we are looking at an ideal opportunity to support coordination between
the ministries and concerned sectors and to implement the general mobilization measures, and
we therefore ask to take advantage of the successes achieved throughout this period to deduce
how best to efficiently implement Law 174 and with all its clauses. She also stressed the need to
prevent tobacco manufacturers and their allies from interfering in the decision-making process
and to reject any funding from them as it is illegal, as well as controlling competing commercial
and other vested interests in the midst of the COVID-19 response and beyond, in accordance
with Article 5.3 of the WHO FCTC.
Saleh asserted that despite the implementation of many of Law 174's provisions, the application
of the ban on smoking in closed public places remains very weak, given the limited political will
of successive governments, the low levels of coordination between responsible authorities, the
conflicts of private interest, and the interference by tobacco industry and their allies in the
process of making such decisions. She pointed out: "Tobacco products in Lebanon are still very
available at affordable prices, easily accessible wherever our young people go. How long would
private interest prevail over the public interest? How long will some entities remain above the
law?”
Mrs. Baroud said that for more than a decade, civil society has contributed to supporting the tobacco
and smoking control agenda, and they are continuing to do so. She called for the government's
commitment to resisting COVID-19 by reintroducing the implementation of Law 174 as an
integral part of efforts to combat coronavirus and with similar commitment.
Mr. Araji asserted the Parliamentary Health Committee full commitment to take all necessary
measures to support this cause. He stressed that the committee has examined several laws that
will reduce the smoking pandemic in Lebanon, and that today is the ideal time to reconsider how
to implement Law 174 to reduce the risk of smoking.
In the end, it was emphasized that despite all the consequences of COVID-19, this period is the
perfect time to quit smoking and re-implement Law 174, as public health legislation and policies
have shown national and global importance.