Roach: More work still to be done

THE NATIONAL Committee for the Prevention of Alcoholism and Drug Dependency (NCPADD) remains committed to breathalyser testing and tobacco labelling.
NCPADD president Victor Roach said the recent ban on smoking in public was a victory but their work was far from over.
“We will be discontinuing our lobby for the banning of smoking in public places [in light of our success] but we are still pursuing packaging and labelling standards on all tobacco products as well as pushing for the use of the breathalyser,” he said.
Roach was speaking to the DAILY NATION recently after a special Sabbath church service at the Breath Of Life Seventh Day Adventist church in Whitehall, St Michael, commemorating the public ban on smoking in public places.
He said they had failed in their bid to implement the labels in 2008 in accordance with the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and expected to also fail to ban all ad sponsorship and promotion of Tobacco by February 2011, but added that they were not giving up.
Roach said the effort was not one NCPADD could do on its own, which was why the CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality was working on a draft to present to the regional Heads of Government.
“Jamaica has been tasked to take the lead on the packaging and labelling standards so hopefully a final draft will be presented within a year.
“It is a sober responsibility to increase our efforts and ensure our message is heard. There must be a sustained promotion in the language of young people by their peers and role models. If not, we are doomed to disaster,” he said.