‘Tobacco use causes damage to ecology, human health’

Experts say stringent measures required to protect human life, environment

ISLAMABAD:

Tobacco use heavily damages the environment and is a serious threat to the public's health, therefore, stringent measures are required to protect the environment and public's life.

This was the crux of views expressed by the experts at a roundtable discussion organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in collaboration with the Ministry of National Health Services Regulations.

Health expert Dr Minhaj-us-Siraj urged the environmental activists and the government to stop the tobacco industry for its role in degrading the environment. He said that 2.8 tons of firewood are annually consumed from lighting tobacco alone while 30 million tree barks are consumed in producing the packaging of cigarettes alone.

Dr Amina Khan berated the tobacco industry for blindly focusing on profit generation and using corporate social responsibility for positive image building, irrespective of the environmental damage caused by this sector. She added that a cigarette butt takes 18 months to 2 years to degrade while the residue remains in the environment as second, third, and fourth-hand smoke.

SPDC Executive Director Asif Iqbal believed that the cigarette companies are responsible for $3.85 billion worth of burden on the health sector, yet only 700 million of tax is generated from this sector.

Heartfile COO Saba Amjad said that the tobacco industry is capturing a bigger market by rebounding itself through innovations in nicotine products.

World Wide Fund Representative Dr Imran Khalid said that the aim of CSR activities has shifted to greenwashing the environmental damage caused by the tobacco industry.

Institute of Urbanism Executive Director Mome Saleem asserted that the tobacco industry is challenging traditional cash crops due to its land use and resource consumption. She further said that the sector should be viewed regarding its greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprint as cigarettes are not essential items.

Shahzad Alam from World Health Organization informed the participants that there are 30 million smokers in Pakistan, and daily, 450 people lose their lives to cigarettes. The challenges posed by the tobacco sector are further intensifying due to the innovations in nicotine products, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2022.