Stricter rules on cigarette making set

VIGAN CITY – The prospect of having government specialists watching while cigarettes are being manufactured may yet be a step towards making the controversial tobacco product less dangerous.

This probability loomed as the National Tobacco Administration (NTA) revealed that the Department of Agriculture (DA) headed by Secretary Leonardo Montemayor and the tobacco agency are now leading towards strict regulation of the manufacture and distribution of cigarettes and other tobacco products.

NTA Administrator Carlitos Encarnacion announced the holding of public hearings soon to tackle the Montemayor-Encarnacion nascent move to place cigarette making under tight watch.

The various stakeholders in the tobacco industry including cigarette manufacturers and traders and government representatives will be drawn together in these hearings, it was learned.

This developed as the NTA research department yesterday admitted nicotine’s presence in various percentages in the tobacco plant but denied having any trace of arsenic or cyanide in the plant’s genetic constitution.

Encarnacion said that while it would be "unthinkable" for cigarette manufacturers to have cyanide or arsenic included in cigarettes during the manufacturing process, both the DA and NTA want their manufacturing and distribution as subject to regulation. – Teddy Molina

The NTA chief also noted that while the industry generates P19 billion to P21 billion annually in excise tax revenues, President Arroyo is also concerned with the adoption of safety standards in the manufacture of cigarettes.

He registered no objection to Sen. Loren Legarda’s earlier publicized proposal to have cigarette manufacturers declare the ingredients of their products if cigarettes are reclassified as drugs.