Tobacco.org

More delay in health warnings on cigarette packs 

The Ministry of Health has finally approved a new set of health warnings for cigarette packs, but these will be introduced with a delay of seven months as the previous timeline of January 1, 2009, has now been extended to July 1, 2009, sources privy to the ministry revealed to 'The News' here on Tuesday.

The new health warnings, which will be in place on a six-monthly rotational basis with effect from July 1, are 'Smoking causes throat and mouth cancers,' 'Protect children: do not let them breathe your smoke,' 'Quit smoking, live longer,' and 'Smoking severely harms you and others around you.' Minister for Health Sherry Rehman is reported to have approved the text warnings only a couple of days ago; approval of the same by the Ministry of Law is still awaited.

Jump to full article »

Tobacco consumption deepens poverty in the third world 

Tobacco use hurts dis-proportionately the poor and deepens poverty in the third world by siphoning money needed for basic necessities such as food, shelter and education, said senior pulmonologist, Dr. Javaid A Khan. The head of Pulmonology Department, Aga Khan University, in his presentation warned tobacco consumption, mainly smoking, was particularly killing wage earners in prime of their lives.

Jump to full article »

• Tobacco industry preaching 'responsibility' 

In an interesting development that took place this week in a nice and cozy hotel located in the famous tourist resort of Nathiagali, a leading tobacco industry spent hundreds of thousands of rupees to organise a one-day workshop on 'Responsible Journalism.'

Around 20 journalists were taken to Nathiagali on the expenses of the tobacco industry to learn the A, B, C of 'responsible' journalism and the impact that irresponsible reporting can have on people reading or watching their scripts.

Taking note of the development, Khurram Hashmi, coordinator of the Society for Alternate Media and Research (Samar) as well as Coalition for Tobacco Control, told 'The News' that his organisation will register its regret to the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation (WHO) against the tobacco industry openly engaging with mediapersons. . . .

The tobacco industry also distributed attractively designed booklets about how hard it is trying to save the crippling economy of the country by contributing millions and millions of dollars as taxes. Interestingly, none of the booklets contains any mention of the millions and millions of dollars the government requires to provide treatment to patients suffering from diseases induced by tobacco use.

This new move by the ever-intelligent managers of the tobacco industry has come almost a month after the Ministry of Health and WHO facilitated the establishment of the Journalists' Health Forum . . .

'The News' has learnt that some of the tobacco industries operating in NWFP and parts of Kashmir have openly started violating the anti-tobacco law by issuing banned advertisements to various media outfits.

Jump to full article »

Countrywide advocacy for introduction of pictorial health warnings on the cards 

Out to introduce packaging reforms through amendments in the existing tobacco control legislation, TheNetwork for Consumer Protection has embarked on a countrywide advocacy and awareness campaign for introduction of rotating pictorial warnings on 50 per cent of the cigarette pack; a statement on the pack about product constituents and emissions; and prohibition of sale of smaller packs and in loose packing.

Announcing the decision at a press conference here Friday, TheNetwork said a series of countrywide activities will be organised in a bid to influence policy makers in the Ministry of Health to amend the Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-Smokers' Health Ordinance 2002 and The Cigarettes (Printing of Warning) (Amendment) Ordinance 2002 . . . Due to legislation against smoking in USA and Europe, the tobacco companies have diverted their marketing campaign towards developing countries including Pakistan. The result is that tobacco use is declining at the rate of 1.5% in the West but at the same time it is increasing at the rate of more than 1.7% in the developing countries. Some 57 tobacco manufacturers are currently operating in Pakistan.

Jump to full article »

• Smoking banned in all Punjab prisons 

THE Punjab government has announced a ban smoking in all the prisons of the province.

Punjab Prisons Minister Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor, while addressing the inaugural session of workshop on "Tobacco Smoking-A Preventable Epidemic" at the University of Health Sciences (UHS) on Tuesday, said the level of awareness about the hazards of smoking, second hand smoking, responsibilities and authorities under the law and the initiatives taken by the government for tobacco control was extremely low among the masses. He further said there was a dire need to evolve an effective strategy for the implementation of the existing laws. On this occasion, the minister announced an immediate ban on smoking in all the prisons of the province.

The workshop was organized by the UHS Centre for Health Environment Studies in collaboration with World Health Organization (WHO), Tobacco Control Cell, Ministry of Health, Punjab Health Department and Green Future.

Jump to full article »

• Tobacco use among women on the rise 

More and more girls and women in Pakistan are turning to tobacco use, this being a clear sign of the closing gender gap as smoking among girls is constantly increasing as a result of changing social norms and the tobacco industry’s targeting of young women.

There are an estimated 25 million smokers in Pakistan, with the male to female ratio being 4:1. This means that 36% of the adult males and 9% of the adult females in Pakistan are tobacco users. However, the Global Youth Tobacco Survey conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) has found that the boy to girl tobacco use ratio has shrunk to 2:1. This evidence of the closing gender gap in terms of tobacco use is true for both rural as well as urban women.

Lately, the WHO has drawn attention to the need for a gendered response to tobacco use and is calling for specific programmes and policies to curb smoking, in all its forms, among young girls and women.

Jump to full article »

• The Spy Who Rolled His Own Smokes  

When it comes to movie character-building, cigarettes are an easy choice. But the prop's mystique was traceable to reality, of course. Before James Bond, there was his creator: Ian Fleming, who was known to smoke 80 cigarettes a day.

In a similar vein, a bit of character-building appeared over the weekend in a Week in Review article by Mark Mazzetti, who covers the intelligence beat for The New York Times. While exploring the complicated relationship between American and Pakistani spies, he described the "odd affectations" of Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who headed Pakistan’s Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence until last year:

During meetings, he will often spend several minutes carefully hand-rolling a cigarette. Then, after taking one puff, he stubs it out. . . .

Mr. Eszterhas argued that nothing was lost by cutting cigarettes out, saying "there are 1,000 better and more original ways to reveal a character's personality." Just tell that to General Kayani.

Jump to full article »

'Smokers and passive: smokers equally at risk' 

Smokers and passive smokers have an equal chance of contracting fatal diseases caused by smoking, claimed Pakistan Medical Society (PMS) President Dr Masood Sheikh.

He told Daily Times on Sunday that, “There is no difference between smoking and passive smoking. A smoker is at risk. However, a non-smoker who inhales the smoke exhaled by a smoker is at equal risk. This poses a serious issue.”

He said, “The danger lies in the fact that a cigarette is lined with 4,000 chemicals out of which 50 can cause lung and mouth cancers. It is natural for a smoker to be at risk. However, the same chemicals affect non-smokers.” He said that passive smoking was a major cause of asthma and lung cancer.

Jump to full article »

It was just one cigarette and... 

A resident of Gunbad, Mardan district, Khan is one of hundreds of drug addicts being treated at the rehabilitation centers of Dost Foundation. "I was a routine smoker, but that night the cigarette offered to me was not a routine one," said Khan who has been undergoing rehabilitation exercises at the treatment center for the last two months.

"After taking a puff, I felt it had far sweeter flavour and demanded another one. And then there was no going back - I became a junkie lost in the world of addiction," he said . . .

Dost Foundation is a non-governmental organisation working for the rehabilitation of drug addicts and welfare of poor women and children across Pakistan.

The foundation's project director, Muhammad Ayub, said that their mission was to kill the drug culture. "We have established dropping centers in all districts of NWFP from where addicts are brought to the rehabilitation center," he said, adding that presently they were ministering to 10,000 registered patients, excluding women.

Jump to full article »

Flat water rates to hit tobacco growers hard 

PESHAWAR: The farmer community, particularly tobacco growers, of the province will have to suffer from what the NWFP government claimed to benefit the agriculture sector through tax reforms announced in the annual budget for 2008-09.

In its budget proposals, the Awami National Party and Pakistan People's Party coalition government has fixed water rates (abiana) for various crops being cultivated in the Frontier province.

A flat rate on edible crops including wheat, sugarcane, vegetables, rice, pulses and barley, etc has been proposed Rs150 per acre while non-foodable crops including tobacco, plantation, shaftal etc will have Rs200 per acre as water rate in its respective seasons.

Jump to full article »

Dealers create artificial shortage of cigarette 

In the wake of expected approval for the rise in the taxes by the National Assembly on tobacco products as proposed in the budget 2008-09, dealers had already started fleecing the consumers by creating artificial shortage and raising the prices of different brands of cigarettes.

In a survey conducted by The Post it was observed that there was a rise of about 30 to 35 percent in the prices of most popular brands like Gold Leaf, Capstain and Gold Flake.

Jump to full article »

Cigarette prices increase by 11-20% 

The prices of cigarettes showed around 11 to 20 percent increase on Thursday, the first day after presentation of the federal budget 2008-09.

Major impact in terms of percentage has been witnessed on B-grade brands while the prices of A-grade brands rose but in terms of percentage it was less. The prices of B-class brands showed an increase of around 17 to 20 percent while A-class brands showed an increase of 11 to 13 percent.

In a number of areas, shopkeepers stopped sales of cigarettes saying that supply in the market is short and the companies are not supplying the stocks. The government on Wednesday raised central excise duty on cigarettes but the prices of cigarettes have been rising since the start of June

Jump to full article »

Health warning regulations on tobacco products to be amended 

The Ministry of Health has planned to amend the national regulations regarding printing of health warnings on tobacco products to meet all the requirements of Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC).

According to official sources, with effect from January 1, 2009 the health warning on tobacco products will be required to be rotated on a 6-monthly basis.

This will mean that after six months the health warning on the tobacco packets will change. In addition to that, the new health warnings will also be printed on cigarette outers used in retail sale of the product, a provision that does not exist in national laws at present.

The ministry will ask various ministries and departments to further take measures to implement the national regulations that have been framed for Tobacco Control Sources said one of the major focuses of the FCTC is on ensuring that the tobacco products carry proper health warnings to warn intending consumers about the hazards of smoking.

Jump to full article »

World No Tobacco Day today: City to mark day with seminars informing youth of perils of tobacco 

The Pakistan Medical Society (PMS) will hold seminars, meeting and sessions with the youth today to educate them about the adverse effects of tobacco and methods of getting rid of it.

PMS Chairman Dr Masood Akhtar Sheikh told Daily Times that tobacco use was rising globally, and the epidemic of tobacco-related diseases and deaths had yet to reach its peak. He said that tobacco was the leading preventable cause of death in the world. "A total of 1.8 billion youths between 10 and 24 years of age are at risk of getting cancer and other diseases from it," he said, adding that there was strong evidence that smoking doubled the risk of developing renal cell carcinoma, which researchers said was a major contributing factor to cancer.

Jump to full article »

Govt urged to implement ordinance on smoking 

The speakers at a one-day conference urged government to strictly implement Smoking and Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-Smokers Health Ordinance - 2002 in Pakistan to protect youth from the disastrous impact of tobacco products.

The conference was arranged for young leaders by Ministry of Health and World Health Organisation ahead of the World No Tobacco Day here on Thursday.

This year the World No Tobacco Day is being observed with a theme "The Tobacco Industry Catches You Young."

To discourage the increasing trend of using tobacco products a number of strong recommendations were given by the young participants in the conference.

Speaking on the occasion, Secretary Youth Affair Ashafaq Mehmood suggested revising the Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-Smokers Health Ordinance - 2002 as it has given a very limited number of authorised persons who can be consulted to take action if somewhere the ordinance is being violated.

Jump to full article »