Tobacco control advocates ask govt to enforce two-year old pledge

GRAPHIC HEALTH WARNING ON CIGARETTE PACKS

Islamabad

Should Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif enforce his two year-old decision of increasing the size of the graphic health warning (GHW) on cigarette packs to 85 per cent, Pakistan will match with India in South Asia, surpass Sri Lanka and lag slightly behind Nepal, which has become a world leader by enforcing 90 per cent GHW size.

Tobacco control activists representing TheNetwork for Consumer Protection and the Coalition for Tobacco Control (CTC) shared these data in a press conference organized on the eve of the second anniversary of the PM’s March 30, 2015 decision to enforce 85 per cent GHW. The PM’s decision was announced by Saira Afzal Tarar, Minister of State for Health.

Nadeem Iqbal, CEO of TheNetwork maintained that the PM will kill two birds with one stone and will not only be dubbed as an international public health leader but will also be seen as serious in lessening the diseases burden cause by tobacco and saving 300 deaths per day unnecessarily lost to tobacco.

 “Pakistan has shown exemplary commitment to tobacco control in the last couple of years. We declared ban on shisha smoking and restricted tobacco products advertisements. Pakistan announced the new 85% GHW that would’ve put us among the top four countries in the world including Nepal, India, and Thailand, all from South Asia. However, after two years, we are still waiting for enforcement of the enhanced warning,” Khurram Hashmi, National Coordinator of CTC-Pak said.

Coalition partners namely, Farz Association of Rehabilitation and Development, Social Welfare Society and United Development Organization from Rawalpindi, Chakwal and Kalarsaedaan respectively, also urged immediate implementation of the much-delayed 85 per cent GHW notification. At present, according to the Cigarette Package Health Warnings International Status of Canadian Cancer Society Report, Pakistan ranks 106 out of 205 countries in the world. After implementing the enhanced GHW, the rank would elevate Pakistan to the third position alongside India and Thailand.

Considering the burden of tobacco epidemic, the government would have saved 645,300 adults from tobacco illness based on Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) 2014 survey. Another representative of TheNetwork asserted that “Larger pictorial warnings have globally proven to be highly effective in motivating its user to move towards cessation and preventing youth to start smoking. The prime purpose of proposing larger pictorial warning is to create awareness about the hazards and ill-effects of tobacco consumption.”

Public health expert Sana Azmat, Project Coordinator of TheNetwork, in a statement said, “Every cigarette manufacturing company in Pakistan understands the power of their product designing and packaging and they use it strategically to not only increase its sale but also to attract new smokers as it is one of the few legal tools they can still use for marketing purposes .They also can advertise at the point of sale and via product display in shops. They try their level best to glamorize their product. On the other hand, government can tap this opportunity to reach out to every smoker by implementing enlarged pictorial health warning and protecting its citizens specially youth, who play an important role in national building.”

According to the Institute of Medicine, “Restrictions on package labelling are critical to reducing tobacco use and ensuring that smokers are adequately informed about the risks of smoking. Indeed, prominent health warnings on packages are among the most cost-effective forms of public health education available.”

Tobacco control advocates and coalition partners urged the government to enforce the notification of 85 per cent enhanced PHW on cigarette packs with immediate effect in order to protect the lives of millions of Pakistanis.