Posted: Friday, October 17, 2025. 2:18 pm CST.
By Aaron Humes: A Bill for an Act “to provide for the adoption and implementation of the tobacco control policies in accordance with the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control which aims to protect present and future generations from the devastating harms of tobacco use and exposure to tobacco smoke; to prevent tobacco use by children; to protect workers and the public from exposure to tobacco smoke; to enhance public awareness of the hazards of tobacco use and exposure to tobacco smoke; to ensure that individuals are provided with information to make fully informed decisions about the use of tobacco; to create a national coordinating mechanism for tobacco control; and to provide for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto,” has been introduced in the House of Representatives.
Citing World Health Organization (WHO) statistics, Minister of Health and Wellness Kevin Bernard asserted, “Tobacco is no conventional product. In fact, tobacco is the only legal consumer product that, when used as directed by the manufacturers, kills two-thirds of consumers.” There are more than 1 billion smokers worldwide, four in every five in low-income countries like Belize, and eight million die annually from tobacco use, including 1.2 million non-smokers.
Yet here in Belize, 8.7 percent of the adult population smokes, and among 13-to-15-year-olds, the percentage rises to 15.5 percent, up three percent in ten years. Smoking has become “cool” with the rise of e-cigarettes and vapes, but the results are no less deadly.
“The tobacco epidemic is completely preventable, with the implementation of effective legislation, policies and programs, and today, the power of prevention starts with what we do,” Minister Bernard declared.
We will have more from the Ministry’s presentation to the press this morning later on.
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The post Tobacco control: Government arms to fight “epidemic” of tobacco use among younger population appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
Posted: Friday, October 17, 2025. 2:18 pm CST. By Aaron Humes: A Bill for an Act “to provide for the adoption and implementation of the tobacco
The post Tobacco control: Government arms to fight “epidemic” of tobacco use among younger population appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
