From Paula Atcha in L'Express Dimanche (July 27)
Smoke gets in your Eyes ?
Since watching an excellent BBC programme last Sunday night on the evils of tobacco use by young children, I have waited in vain to see a reaction to it in the Press, in Parliament, or at the levels of the Ministries concerned : those of Health and Education. The programme was devoted to Nigeria, to Malawi but specially to Mauritius, though not perhaps to those aspects of the country that we would wish to advertise abroad - we saw Primary school children admitting to the regular consumption of tobacco, and followed them to several boutiques where they were able to buy cigarettes “en detail” (single sticks), and learned, without any satisfaction, that we have one of the highest rates of child-smoking in the world. We watched Véronique Leclézio being interviewed at some length by the presenter. Although few people living here can pretend ignorance of her long campaign against our national tobacco interests, if she has ever been officially thanked for her very serious personal contribution to the health of this population, none of her friends are aware of it.
My question is this : now what are we going to do about it ? A programme like the one on BBC blows sky high our pretensions to social respectability and civic responsibility. We appeared not only to our neighbours but to the entire world as a nation where the profit motive is allowed to take precedence over the health of children. In fact, rather than pretending it never happened, there seems only one sensible reaction : to raise the question immediately in Parliament and without wasting time, set about passing new legislation and/or enforcing existing legislation to remedy this disgraceful situation. There are some occasions where ignorance is not bliss- it is downright dangerous.
Paula ATCHIA
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