There is more serious harm to people than smoking!

Apr 19, 2004

SIR— The ban on smoking in public places instituted by NEMA and announced by the environment minister may have been good news and a relief to many non-smokers and environmentalists

SIR— The ban on smoking in public places instituted by NEMA and announced by the environment minister may have been good news and a relief to many non-smokers and environmentalists.

I do not dispute that tobacco smoking may indeed be harmful to one’s health, and that non-smokers have a right to enjoy a smoke-free environment, my submission is that in this regard NEMA and all other law-makers who deal with environmental issues tended to overlook other crucial factors that are causing more danger to our health than just cigarette smoking.

It’s a well established fact that fuel carbon fumes have a high content of poisonous carbon monoxide which, when inhaled into the body, turns oxy-haemoglobin into carboxy-haemoglobin, resulting into fatal consequences. In fact, it is so deadly that in Germany, the Nazis used it to exterminate millions of Jews during World War II. Exhaust pipes were extended into closed vans filled with Jews and a few minutes were enough to kill whoever was closed inside the van.

Close yourself in your garage and run your car’s engine for ten minutes; you will not come out alive to tell what happened. Yet everyday, you, me and our children take in this deadly smoke in a sizeable amount emitted by all types of vehicles we encounter or travel in on the roads. You can imagine the amount of carbon monoxide we inhale in the 30 minutes or more we spend in traffic jams every morning and evening.

In one acceleration lasting two seconds, a vehicle will emit fumes amounting to those emitted by 100,000 cigarettes smoked in the same two seconds. Yet I believe that the effect of fuel carbon fumes is more detrimental to our health than cigarette smoke. In one given traffic jam, say in Bwaise where over 100 vehicles line up at a snail’s pace for over 30 minutes, think about the kind of poisoning we are slowly being subjected to.

All said and done, NEMA says it is still trying to address the issue and that it will soon come up with a solution. Forgive me if I am wrong but my prediction is that they will press for a total ban of importation of second-hand vehicles, a move that will result in more pollution because without affordable vehicles on the market, people will tend to keep and maintain their old vehicles on the road as long as they are mechanically able to run.

Very few Ugandans can afford to purchase brand new vehicles yet vehicles have become an indispensable part of our lifestyle. My advice to NEMA is that they should press the Government to lower import duty on second-hand vehicles so that someone can afford to do away with a car he has had for say three years before it degenerates into a smoking DMC and acquire a relatively newer one whose emissions may be less dangerous.

Otherwise, it will not make any sense to arrest someone found puffing on a cigarette on the street and wave another in
a Pajero emitting clouds of black smoke.

J. Kamu Kamujanduzi
Kampala

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