Delay in implementation offers a chance to attract more children towards tobacco

Islamabad
Every day of delay in implementation of the new 85% graphic warnings on cigarette packs is another day when the tobacco industry gets hundreds of children addicted to its product. As such, the World Lung Foundation (WLF) Tuesday joined hands with several national and international health experts to commend Pakistan for putting the country at the forefront of global tobacco control by passing this legislation, and to urge the government to ignore the threats of the tobacco industry, which is interested only in its own profits rather than the health of Pakistan’s people and economy.
The message was disseminated at a press conference organised on Tuesday under the title ‘We Want to Give Our Kids a Chance.’ The purpose of the event was to extend support to the Ministry of National Health Services on its recent decision of adopting enhanced graphic health warnings on cigarette packs. This would make graphic pack warnings in Pakistan among the largest in the world alongside Thailand, which has already adopted graphic warnings that cover 85% of cigarette packs.
The experts condemned the tobacco industry’s lobbying and interference designed to derail and delay the legislation, pointing out that any such delay would cost lives and increase tobacco-related harm to Pakistan’s economy.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Tahir Turk, senior technical adviser of World Lung Foundation, said “The combined revenues of the world’s six largest tobacco companies in 2013 were US $342 billion, 28% larger than the gross national income of Pakistan, yet the tobacco industry has been counting on economic growth and increasing tobacco use in countries like Pakistan to bolster these already massive profits. It is determined to stop large graphic warnings - not just in Pakistan - because they are extremely effective in warning people, particularly vulnerable populations like youth, about the real harms of tobacco and therefore in reducing smoking. Where we see lives saved, the tobacco industry sees only lost profit, so it spreads misinformation and attempts to influence governments to block progress.”
Dr. Tahir said the coming weeks and months are critical. “We applaud the Ministry for National Health Services for its determination and stand with the international health community in ignoring the lies of the tobacco industry, which is interested only in its own profits. We urge Pakistan to implement the new 85% graphic pack warnings as proposed, with full compliance by the industry by May 30,” he pointed out.
Dr. Fouad Aslam from the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IUATLD), said, “The eyes of the world - and of the tobacco industry - are on Pakistan with this proposal for 85% graphic pack warnings. The proposed pack warning is a proven, low-cost way to save thousands of lives and reduce the massive health care costs arising from smoking-related disease in Pakistan. For the health of Pakistan’s people and its economy, we support the Ministry’s intention to become a global leader in using pack warnings to warn the public of tobacco’s harms.”
Dr. Fouad said, international experience has shown that in every country, the industry will do everything in its power to keep graphic pack warnings from coming to light: lobbying, threatening lawsuits and delaying implementation. “While the tobacco industry has been successful in watering down or delaying similar proposal in other countries, let us stand firm and put the health of Pakistan’s people over the industry’s profits. We trust that implementation of the new pack warnings will begin at the end of this month — March 30th — with full compliance from the industry by May 30th,” he stated.
According to The Tobacco Atlas, more than 108,800 people die each year in Pakistan from tobacco-related diseases such as heart disease, stroke and emphysema. The country is also ranked 6th in the world in terms of TB, a burden made worse by the high prevalence of smoking.
The impact of tobacco packaging is well known; attractively branded tobacco packs play a major role in influencing young people to initiate smoking. In contrast, large graphic pack warnings are proven to help deter youth from initiating smoking and to encourage quitting and reduced consumption among current smokers. In Pakistan’s proposed law, the new warning will be more impactful in clearly communicating the danger of tobacco use because it is more attention-grabbing-at more than double the size of the current warning -and because of the powerful, real-life image of throat cancer selected. To date, there have been no national mass-media campaigns in Pakistan to warn people about the harms of tobacco, so graphic pack warnings play an even more important role in raising awareness.
There are health and economic arguments for reducing overall smoking prevalence in Pakistan through proven tobacco control measures, including large graphic pack warnings. According to The Tobacco Atlas, more than 20 million Pakistani adults-approximately 27.9% of adult men and 5.4% of adult women-smoke tobacco. In 2010, 12.2% of male deaths-1,645 men every week-and 4.5% of female deaths-442 women every week-were caused by tobacco.
The need to deter youth initiation of smoking in Pakistan is particularly urgent. Approximately 555,000 Pakistani children use tobacco every day and 9.9% of boys (ranging from 6.1% of boys in Lahore to 14.1% in Karachi) smoke tobacco-more than the average in other middle-income countries. The increasing incidence and cost of tobacco-related disease and premature death is a growing drain on Pakistan’s economy.
Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of mortality in the world today, and is responsible for more than 5 million deaths each year - one in 10 preventable deaths worldwide. Research has shown graphic warnings are one of the most effective means to prompt people to quit tobacco.
In a message coinciding with the press conference, Shahzad Alam Khan from the World Health Organisation (WHO) termed the tobacco industry’s hue and cry about the likelihood of smuggling as an old tactic to pressurize the government. “We are confident that Pakistan will turn the tables on the tobacco industry. The world is moving in the direction of plain packaging and we should also eye plain packaging in the near future. Besides, Pakistan should also put a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship and raise tobacco taxation to make cigarettes and other tobacco products less affordable to the masses,” he stated.
The event was attended by representatives of IUATLD, TheNetwork for Consumer Protection, The Coalition for Tobacco Control-Pakistan, WHO, and World Lung Foundation.