Burning issue: Abida Hussain called out for ‘promoting’ smoking

Consumer group protests her endorsing of tobacco consumption.

ISLAMABAD:

Health experts and civil society expressed their concern over a testimonial given by a renowned politician which they said was for promoting the habit of smoking.

Protesting the PPP leader, and former ambassador to the US, Abida Hussain’s one-page testimonial titled ‘My favourite mistake’ (published in Newsweek), they said that it was a violation of law.

They also urged the government to take stern action and ask Hussain to make an apology, it has been learnt.

The Network Executive Coordinator Nadeem Iqbal said it is the second violation of tobacco laws by the same organisation and the government seems unable to act. “This is another implicit advertisement campaign by Philip Morris which has unfortunately hit the inherent gaps in Pakistan’s tobacco control laws,” he said.

Adding that, “Testimonials are an established advertisement and propaganda technique for promotion using words of famous people or authority figures. The network condemns the approval of a lethal product that causes more than 100,000 deaths annually in Pakistan.”

He said going through the piece, one easily notices Hussain’s “endorsement” of billboards carrying the image of the Marlboro Man, concluding with how, she fell in love with the mascot and bought her first cigarette pack.

“The deceptively weaved message for young men and boys is that girls are attracted to this brand,” he said.

“She talks of smoking and not having any health problem, thereby implying that cigarettes don’t have any health risk. She also narrates how she braved stigma as a female smoker. “Her statements challenge overwhelming evidence that tobacco smoke is a known carcinogen,” he said.

“Hussain’s concluding words about how being a female smoker made her a better politician obviously target educated females,” he added.

Meanwhile talking to The Express Tribune Professor Dr Ashraf Chaudhry, a health expert who worked with the Health Ministry’s tobacco cell, felt the piece was indirect promotion of tobacco, which is banned.

Similarly, a health expert said that on one hand the government claims to be making efforts to provide a healthy environment to the people, while on the other, its own members are violating laws by giving interviews promoting its use.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 7^th, 2012.