Saving lives: Call for enlarged pictorial warning on cigarette packets

Activists hold press conference, demonstration outside press club on World No Tobacco Day

KARACHI: ‘Qatil qatil cigarette qatil [cigarettes are killers]’ chanted participants at a demonstration outside the Karachi Press Club on Tuesday while crushing cigarettes with their feet to mark the World No Tobacco Day.

Partners of the Coalition for Tobacco Control (CTC-Pak) called on the government to enlarge the pictorial health warning on cigarette packs as announced in 2015 to discourage the use of the harmful substance.

Earlier, in a press conference held prior to the demonstration, the partners expressed concerns over the tobacco industry’s interference in delaying the implementation of a framework which says 85% of all space on cigarette packs should be covered with pictorial health warnings.

“Larger pictorial warnings have been effective all over the world to reduce tobacco use. Even India, having six times the population of Pakistan, implemented 85% warnings. It has been over 15 months since Pakistan announced to implement it but it has failed,” said Mir Zulfiqar Ali, a CTC-Pak coalition partner. Ali added that the Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-smokers Health Ordinance 2002 and the Cigarettes (printing of warning) Amendment Ordinance 2002 should be effectively implemented by the government throughout the country.



Zahid Saddar, another CTC-Pak partner, said, “Heavy taxes should be imposed on the tobacco industry and revenue collected from it should be invested on victims of tobacco use.”



Labelling tobacco a ‘silent killer’, he praised India for not compromising on public health despite facing resistance from the tobacco industry.

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s Asad Iqbal Butt was of the opinion that the tobacco industry mainly focuses on youth and children as its target market. He called for a ban on all forms of tobacco advertisements.

According to Butt, all forms of tobacco, including naswar, gutka and mainpuri, claim thousands of lives every year as they are the main reason behind the rising number of oral cancer patients in the country which even include women and children. He added that the fine imposed on smoking a cigarette in public places should be increased from Rs1,000, which is much less as compared to the fine in other countries.

According to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 108,000 people lose their lives in Pakistan annually due to tobacco consumption. Each year, WHO marks the World No Tobacco Day to highlight the health risks associated with tobacco use and advocate for effective policies to reduce its consumption.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 1^st, 2016.