Islamabad Detailing how the tobacco industry in Pakistan carves room for manoeuvre, a report titled ‘Smoky Truth’ was launched here on Thursday at an impressive ceremony where two cancer patients Muhammad Ziakat, aged 31 years, and 55 year-old Feroz Din shared how smoking has deprived them, not only of their lifelong assets, but also of all the joys of life. An initiative of TheNetwork for Consumer Protection, the report was launched amidst a galaxy of health professionals, including oncologists, policy-makers, lawyers, health rights activists, politicians and prominent members of the academia. Ziakat, a construction worker in Dubai, was diagnosed with cancer when he returned to Murree, his homeland, last year on vacation. He has so far spent around Rs. 400,000 on cancer treatment. Feroz Din, a blacksmith from a small village of District Haripur, claimed having been a smoker for the last 45 years. He quit only when diagnosed with CA buccal mucosa cancer. The disease is already taking its toll, forcing the disposal of his assets and making his life mierable. Dr. Muhammad Faheem, head of the Department of Oncology at the Nuclear Medicine, Oncology and Radiology Institute (NORI), termed cigarettes as a weapon of mass destruction. In a presentation titled ‘Smoking: a silent legal assassin,’ he re-emphasised how more and more lives are being lost to tobacco, with the challenge in hand becoming deadlier than before. “If this trend is not checked, tobacco will become the biggest cause of death around the world by 2020,” he warned. "The sooner you quit, the quicker you feel better," he added. Dr. Faisal Sultan, chief executive officer of the Shaukat Khanam Memorial Cancer Hospital, said a smoker is 17 times more predisposed to the risk of contracting lung cancer than a non-smoker. Besides cancer, smoking also causes heart diseases. He told the participants that in the US, it has been established that the quicker a smoker quits smoking, the greater his chances of survival as compared to a smoker. Dr. Faisal had travelled from Lahore to attend the launching ceremony. Dr. Javed Akram, vice chancellor of the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University, emphasised the need to discourage smoking at every forum. Terming the report a milestone, he urged the government to make a strong regulatory framework to control further spread of the tobacco epidemic. He also asked 'ulema' and religious scholars to issue ‘fatwas’ against smoking. He offered to conduct a comparative study detailing what the country earns in the form of tobacco taxes and what it loses in the shape of expenses incurred on cancertreatment. “Definitely, the health costs of cancer patients are much higher than revenues collected by the tobacco industry,” he said. Human rights activist Nasreen Azhar also condemned smoking, conceding she herself was a victim of passive smoking. Dr. Shahzad Ali Khan from the Health Services Academy, called for ‘de-glamourising’ cigarettes and smoking. He said the 'tobacco mafia' is more powerful and more resourceful than tobacco control advocates. “We need to design our strategy in accordance with the matching strength of the industry,” he remarked. Professor Dr. Aziz-ur-Rehman from the International Islamic University said tobacco industry is using litigation as a tool. He gave examples of Australia, where tobacco control advocates had to wage a lengthy and furious legal war against the tobacco industry in order to adopt plain cigarette packaging. Mazhar Arif from Society for Alternative Media And Research (Samar) said smoking is not only a health challenge but a political issue with its roots deep in the power corridors. Dr. Vaqar Ahmed, deputy director of SDPI, termed report an authentic document exposing how the tobacco industry is manoeuvring to expand its business in the market. Nadeem Iqbal, executive coordinator of TheNetwork, termed the report as just a tip of the iceberg. “There is much more deceit and gullibility which the industry is employing to carry on with its nefarious business,” he added. He appealed to doctors and lawyers to encourage and help every cancer patient to sue and claim damages from the tobacco industry. Lawyers, he maintained, should provide free legal aid to such patients.
