sword’
Lynda Loxton
Rembrandt chairman Johann Rupert this week shrugged off the growing anti-tobacco lobby in the United States but warned the South African government against trying to milk more excise duty from the local industry.
When asked at the annual meeting in Stellenbosch what the recent court ruling against US company Brown and Williamson (B&W) and President Bill Clinton’s moves to clamp down on smoking would mean for the tobacco industry worldwide, Rupert said B&W had appealed against the court ruling and was fairly confident it would win.
This was because although the US had more ex-smokers than smokers, the jury system was reluctant to find against the tobacco industry.
“Originally, it was argued that there was a health risk that the smoker did not know about, but the juries ruled that there was a voluntary assumption of risk because it was assumed that everyone knows about the health risk,” Rupert said.
“Then people tried to say that tobacco was addictive. The lawyers said that if it was addictive, why do you know more ex-smokers than smokers?”
Rupert, who insists on a liberal display of ashtrays at his annual meetings so that people can smoke, admitted that “if a person has a sore throat, it is unpleasant for non-smokers to be in the same room. But claims that environmental tobacco smoke is a health risk are difficult to prove,” he said.
Clinton has been pushing for tougher anti- smoking laws, especially in buildings, and higher excise duties on tobacco.
Rupert dismissed this as “a very populist approach in an election year, especially given that Bob Dole has different views.”
Dole, who used to smoke heavily, has been reluctant to support the anti-smoking lobby, much to the dismay of conservatives.
“What irritates me is that I know one of Clinton’s best friends and he assures me that President Clinton enjoys his cigars … and he DOES inhale,” Rupert said.
On the issue of excise duties, Rupert said they were a double-edged sword. It could be argued that they should be raised to discourage smoking and raise extra revenue for the fiscus, but this also encouraged the smuggling of imported tobacco.
South Africa, he said, was a prime example of this. Excise duties had been raised so high that illegal tobacco imports were flourishing and could now be found in 80% of all urban retail outlets — without the health warnings that local brands carried.
He said most of the illegal imports were Brazilian and American brands.
Rupert blamed the illegal imports on the lack of trained manpower in customs and excise and doubted whether current efforts to jack up the department would yield results quickly.