Sheba doctor slams failure to bar tobacco advertising

Jerusalem Post | Breaking News from Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World: "Sheba doctor slams failure to bar tobacco advertising

Judy Siegel-Itzkovich, THE JERUSALEM POST Nov. 21, 2005

Prof. Ben-Ami Sela, a senior pathologist at Sheba Medical Center and Tel Aviv University's Sackler Medical School, has denounced politicians for their failure last week to support a private member's bill for barring tobacco advertising in the print media and on the Internet.
Sela, who also serves as an adviser on lung cancer to the Israel Cancer Association, said Sunday that he was unaccustomed to speaking out in public about such issues after writing hundreds of scientific articles for medical and science journals over many years. But Sela, head of Sheba's pathological chemistry institute, said he could not remain silent about the Knesset plenum's vote last Wednesday.
'I do not feel comfortable writing these words. I am not a journalist, and articles on what's going on in the Knesset are my my regular fare,' said Sela in a statement to the press. 'But daily I see victims of smoking in my hospital, and the way against this plague has not been assisted by such public representatives.'
The vote in the preliminary reading on the bill, presented by Meretz MK Haim Oron and Shas MK and former health minister Nissim Dahan, was 26 for, 29 against and two abstentions. Ehud Olmert, Haim Ramon and Ephraim Sneh (a physician by profession) three former health ministers voted against the bill, while Health Minister Dan Naveh walked out and did not vote, saying he was 'in favor' of the legislation but could not vote for it because it was opposed by the Ministerial Committee on Legislation.
The Health Ministry itself has not initiated a government-sponsored"