New warnings on cigarettes

The Ministry of Health’s announcement on May 31 that all cigarette packs must carry pictorial warnings on the hazards of smoking is a welcome move but unless implemented it will be an empty gesture. In Pakistan, 274 people die from tobacco related diseases every day and a rising number of young people are becoming tobacco users. Given the low levels of literacy, pictorial warnings are an essential step in creating awareness about the hazards of smoking. Similar moves have yielded promising results in other countries. A 2009 study in India showed that graphic warnings would induce 23 per cent male tobacco users to consider quitting and 33 per cent tobacco users to think twice before smoking. But the issue of pictorial warnings is inextricably intertwined with the availability of smuggled cigarettes. Out of a total of 85 billion cigarettes sold in Pakistan in 2009, 14 billion were smuggled, tax-evaded or counterfeit. The Cigarette Manufacturers Association estimates that with the introduction of pictorial health warnings, the number of smuggled tobacco products will increase. In this scenario, there is little chance for the new legislation to prove effective.

Despite the Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-Smokers’ Health Ordinance 2002, implementation of anti-smoking laws is weak at best. Offices and companies continue to designate smoking areas and people smoke underneath “No Smoking” signs at airports and hotels with impunity. It is time that the Tobacco Control Cell takes “enforcement” — the theme of this year’s World Anti Tobacco Day — seriously. Instead of merely passing legislation, it needs to curb the smuggling of tobacco and step up implementation of laws. Otherwise we will be left with disturbing images on cartons, a floundering tobacco industry, and little change in public health.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 7^th, 2010.