It should have been a relatively simple piece of legislation-ban smoking in public places. But the Tobacco Bill, which was passed in the Senate on Tuesday night, became embroiled in heated debate, largely because the Government included provisions which were excessively punitive or which would have transgressed on the privacy of citizens.

But the way this debate was framed highlights a wider problem in respect to government’s approach to health policy-to wit, the assumption that punishment is more effective than persuasion when it comes to combating lifestyle diseases.

Additionally, there is a predilection for using scare tactics which are not based on sound data. For example, claims were made that most smokers start smoking between the ages of 13 to 15-in fact, this is only the age when an individual might try his first cigarette, but experimentation does not in most cases lead to habit.

The public was also told that Trinidad and Tobago has 21 per cent of the region’s smokers but, since we also have 21 per cent of the Anglophone Caribbean’s population, all this figure means is that our smoking rate is the same as that of the other islands.

The problem with such wrong-headed and misleading approaches is that they do not help solve the core issue - which is, getting people to adopt healthier lifestyles. In the case of tobacco, for example, providing detailed information on the ill-effects of smoking has been shown to be less effective than a single image of a smoker’s black and cancerous lung.

When it comes to young persons, policy-makers need to be particularly careful about unintended consequences, because the more smoking is portrayed as an undesirable activity the more likely rebellious teenagers are to take it up.

Instead, policy messages which portray smoking as ’uncool’ or as a profitable ploy by ’big business’ tend to be more effective. Taxes which raise cigarette prices are also a good measure for reducing teenage smoking.

If, therefore, the Government really wants to improve the health of the populace, these are the kinds of strategies they should be using. Unfortunately, politicians in T&T have a habit of chipping away at citizens’ rights wherever they think they can get away with it. This is a counterproductive attitude, which usually only worsens the problems being tackled. Hopefully, the Government will adopt a more democratic and rigorous approach as it implements the Tobacco Bill, and as it treats with other lifestyle health issues like sugar consumption and alcohol use.