Source: Dourados Agora (MS), 17/06/2009

The bill is an important tool to protect society from the serious harm caused by tobacco. The executive secretary of the National Commission for the Implementation of the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control, Tânia Cavalcanti, defended the bill by Senator Sérgio Zambiasi (PTB-RS) that creates a protection fund for workers in the productive chain of the tobacco (PLS 176/07).

The topic was discussed this Tuesday (16), in a public hearing promoted by the Commission on Human Rights and Participatory Legislation (HRC). The debate was requested by the rapporteur of the proposal in the commission, senator Paulo Paim (PT-RS).

In the opinion of Tânia Cavalcanti, in addition to causing health problems for users, smoking burdens the State due to the need to treat the illnesses caused by it. She reported that cancer and cardiorespiratory disorders, among the 50 ills attributed to smoking, are the diseases that kill the most in Brazil.

As an example, the secretary said that, in 2005, the Unified Health System (SUS) spent R $ 339 million only on hospitalization for patients, not considering other costs such as diagnosis and treatment. This means, he emphasized, that 30% of the SUS hospital cost is due to diseases caused by smoking.

She defended research to find out the true dimension of these costs, which includes investments from the private sector and the loss of income of families due to the decrease in work capacity, as well as treatment.

The bill is an important tool to protect society from the serious harm caused by tobacco.

The possibility of instituting the Cide-smoke, proposed by the project, may represent a mechanism for the Brazilian State to promote a fairer use of the resources obtained by the activity, which attributes to the public authorities and society the burden of bearing social and economic costs of tobacco-related diseases - emphasized Tânia Cavalcanti.

Legal activity

The secretary of Family Agriculture of the Ministry of Agrarian Development (SAF / MDA), Adoniram Sanches Peraci, pointed out mistakes regarding the implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco - which proposes to reduce tobacco plantation gradually. The main mistake, he informed, is to think that it is forbidden to grow tobacco in Brazil.

He stressed the role of the Senate in the dissemination of information appropriate to society, through public hearings. Peraci explained that the cultivation of tobacco is not criminalized, as is the case with the cultivation of marijuana and other psychotropics, with tobacco exploitation being an option of the producer.

Senator Sérgio Zambiasi also recalled that smoking is a legal product. Despite being against the use of tobacco, the author of the project said he defends workers in the tobacco sector.

He noted that the proposal to create a fund is to stimulate research, create opportunities and allow hospitals to offer better conditions to those who suffer from cigarette addictions, in addition to providing resources to allow small farmers to change their activities.

I have no arguments in favor of cigarettes, but I have many in favor of workers - said the senator from Rio Grande do Sul, observing that the discussions should “clarify without passion” and offer society alternatives in relation to the topic that, according to him, is loaded with prejudices .

Decision

The president of the Tobacco Industry Union of Rio Grande do Sul (Sinditabaco), Iro Schünke, asked parliamentarians to discuss the topic extensively to decide not to transfer tobacco production to other countries, harming Brazilians, once that Brazil is the largest exporter and the second largest producer of tobacco in the world.

He said that, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of smokers continues to grow, albeit in smaller proportions, due to the Framework Convention. He stressed that, as long as there is demand, the product will continue to be produced.

Schünke also pointed out that tobacco cultivation helps to prevent rural exodus in the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Paraná. In these states, he informed, there are more than 200 thousand families that remain in rural areas due to tobacco growing. In the industry, he pointed out, the sector generates about 30 thousand direct jobs.

The president of the National Confederation of Workers in the Food Industries (CNTA), Artur Bueno de Camargo, suggested to Paim the insertion in the proposal of a tripartite committee, with representatives of workers, businessmen and the government, to offer requalification courses, as well as how to monitor the transition of professionals to other activities.

Taxation

In the opinion of the president of the Brazilian Institute of Ethics in Competition (Etco), André Franco Montoro Filho, the institution of the Contribution of Intervention in the Economic Domain on the import and sale of manufactured tobacco (Cide-Fumo), foreseen in the project, will generate an increase in the tax evasion. He said that the tobacco sector is one of the most taxed, with taxes representing 71% of the price paid by the consumer.

For him, increasing taxation will contribute to the growth of the informal economy and the smuggling of the product.

Tax evasion, speculation, piracy and corruption, pointed out André Franco Montoro Filho, enter markets that are favorable and profitable. For him, these practices affect serious entrepreneurs who contribute to the country's development.

In 2008, informed the fiscal auditor of the Federal Revenue, Marcelo Fish, the institution raised about R $ 4,5 billion from the tobacco sector. However, in 2007 national manufacturers withheld R $ 600 million withheld.

He said that the IRS has been working to reduce tax evasion and managed to reduce it, in the last three years, by approximately R $ 510 million annually. For the specialist, the institution of Cide-Fumo will hinder the work of the Federal Revenue and will not produce significant results in relation to tax evasion.

All suggestions made by experts who participated in the hearing will be forwarded to Senator Paulo Paim to contribute his opinion to the bill.