Can a little ban go a long way?

ISLAMABAD: A month after imposing the law making it necessary for cigarette manufacturers to put pictorial warnings on cigarette packs, the Ministry of Health has gone a step further towards achieving their long-term goal of eliminating smoking.

Small packs, holding 10 or less cigarettes, will be banned from October 1, 2011.

“It is a step towards implementing the No-Smoking Ordinance 2002 in its letter and spirit, which has already seen a delay of almost eight years,” said Yousuf Khan, Director General (DG) of Tobacco Control at Federal Ministry of Health. The ban, clamped through Statutory Regulatory Order, will apply to all manufacturers and retailers, he said.

A year’s time, DG Khan said, was necessary so that the manufacturers had time to adjust their machinery and workforce to comply with the new order.

While the advocates of “No Smoking” have appreciated the ban, many question the efficacy of the move.

“The youngsters never buy cigarettes in packs; they prefer loose cigarettes as packets are difficult to hide from their parents,” said a shopkeeper, Muhammad Ramzan, who runs Pan and Cigarette shop in Peshawar Mor market.

He added that banning small packs would only add to the difficulties of the low-income group, who cannot afford to buy 20-cigarette packs.

This is exactly the effect that groups against smoking are hoping for. “The chances of them giving up smoking will be higher if they face difficulties in buying cigarettes,” said Dr Arif Azad, Executive Coordinator of The Network, an organisation working for the protection of consumer rights.

But the shopkeepers believe the move will have the exact opposite effect. Ramzan and another shopkeeper, Yaseen Ahmed, argued that the non-availability of small cigarette packs would increase smoking.

“People will start buying 20-cigarette packs, while those who cannot afford them will purchase loose cigarettes. In the process more cigarettes will be consumed,” said Ahmed.

Sibtain Raza, a smoker, agreed with them. “As a smoker I know that you tend to smoke more if you have more cigarettes available with you,” he said.

Muhammad Mushtaq, a former chain smoker, chimed in, “Once I decided to quit smoking, I first abandoned the 20-packs and switched to smaller ones.”

All four of them were in agreement that the health ministry should have banned the large packs first if it was serious about discouraging smoking.

The government, however, hopes that the decision will make sense once the entirety of the anti-smoking law is implemented.

“First, the pictorial warnings part of the law was implemented this year and we are gradually moving towards discouraging people from smoking,” said DG Khan. “[After] the ban on small cigarette packs, we will subsequently enforce the ban on [the sale of] loose cigarettes, which will strengthen the existing law,” he added.

“But who will enforce the ban [on sale of loose cigarettes]? How will they monitor all the shops [that sell cigarettes] in the country,” said a sceptical Ahmed.

DG Khan acknowledges the challenges and says the provincial governments will have to offer their full support to the ministry to implement the law effectively.

“Here comes the responsibility of the provincial governments, because it is primarily their responsibility to enforce the law in their respective provinces, [while the ministry] will implement the law in the federal capital,” said Khan.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 4^th, 2010.