Tobacco.org

• Hope in a land dying for smoke  

Pakistan has finally decided to stub it out, so to speak. Beginning next February, cigarette packs will have pictorial warnings to wean smokers away from, well, ending up in a smoke.

Until now, any official attempt to check the menace was limited to observing the annual World No-Tobacco Day with sound and the odd fury but little action.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Health has now mandated that cigarette packs will have picture-based health warnings that cover 40% of the principal display area on both the front and back of the packs.

The decision has been hard-fought and hard-earned on the part of those campaigning for control given the clout of the tobacco industry, which still managed to pressurise the ministry into reducing the original recommended size of half the display area to forty per cent.

The decision to make graphic health warnings mandatory was announced at a seminar arranged in connection with World No Tobacco Day on May 31 this year.

At the time, the ministry had announced January 1, 2010 as the deadline for the implementation of the decision.

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• Anti-smoking laws being violated  

Smokers violating the law of complete ban on tobacco use at work and public places have still continued this practice in the federal capital. Citizens complained that after withdrawal of Statutory Rules and Orders (SRO), all public and work places have become smoke-free, therefore, smokers should not be allowed smoking or using tobacco in any other form in any public place.

They said individuals and offices are clearly violating the ordinance. They said complete implementation of law would help protect the health of non-smokers and make the smokers abiders of the concerned laws.

It is pertinent to mention here that earlier, all public and private offices were allowed to designate a separate place for smokers to smoke within office premises with adequate arrangements to protect the health of non-smokers.

However, such permission was being misused

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• Removal of lacunas in Anti-Smoking Ordinance urged 

Health experts believe that consumption of tobacco in Pakistan is becoming more and more alarming because its incidence is increasing among youth of Pakistan especially in schools, colleges and universities.

According to an estimate, Pakistanis smoke away Rs50 billion annually. Around 100,000 persons die every year in Pakistan due to diseases related to tobacco use. There are over 30 million smokers in Pakistan of which 37% are male while 9% female and about 1,200 youngsters take up smoking every day. Tobacco is the cause of at least 85% cases of lung cancer, cancer of mouth, throat, kidney, bladder and stroke, besides chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

Health experts say that Pakistan needs to reduce tobacco use to control non-communicable diseases and achieve the related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that can only be done by removing lacunas in current Anti-Smoking Ordinance because legislation and its implementation in true letter and spirit is the key to effective tobacco control.

"Markets like Pakistan are fair grounds for tobacco sales of big tobacco companies because of huge young and illiterate population, loose price controls, permission of sale of open or small packs of cigarettes, ignorance about toxic constituents and emissions of cigarettes and diverse health impacts; last but not the least due to lacunas in 'Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-Smokers Health Ordinance 2002'," said Head of Community Medicine at Islamabad Medical & Dental College Professor Dr Muhammad Ashraf Chaudhry while talking to 'The News' on lacunas in the ordinance.

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• Health ministry asked to implement anti-smoking laws 

The Ministry of Health has been asked to implement the prohibition of smoking and protection of non-smokers health ordinance in true spirit.

Citizens complained that though the government had withdrawn Statutory Rules and Orders (SRO) on smoking in designated areas, however the concerned laws are still being violated. According to them, the said SRO was withdrawn in order to protect the health of non-smokers and making the smokers abiders of the concerned laws, but there is no such implementing body to check the violation of such laws, they added.

They said, after withdrawal of SRO all public and work places have been declared smoke free and smokers couldn't smoke or use tobacco in any other form in any place of public work.However, they complained that smokers are still smoking in public places and offices while many public and private organizations and departments have allocated designated areas for smokers which is against the concerned laws.

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• EDITORIAL: Unhealthy business 

Once again the profit motive may trump the government in its efforts to improve the general health of the nation. The government had announced the introduction of pictorial health warnings on cigarette packs and had given the industry a six-month deadline to print them as from January 1st 2010; thus joining 30 other countries having similar warnings. . . .

It is reported that a series of meetings between industry representatives and senior officials of the health department has been held in an effort to slow down the implementation of the requirement for pictorial warnings on packets. . . .

We are a desperately unhealthy nation with a poor spread of primary healthcare services; and an even poorer spread of specialist oncology units. The causal linkage between smoking, cancers, and respiratory illness is well known. Our implementation of anti-smoking legislation has been patchy at best and as the tobacco producers are on the retreat in the developed world; they are increasingly focused on the undeveloped and developing world to extend their market footprint. We hope that the government will hold the line and not cave in to assorted pressures. This is sensible governance and clearly to the ultimate benefit of the entire population. Smoking kills - pictorial warnings on packets may lead to fewer of us dying of tobacco-related disease; and we have scant sympathy for the tobacco lobby.

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• The Taliban diversify into tobacco  

LAHORE // The smuggling of tobacco is helping to fuel the Taliban insurgency in Pakistan, according to analysts and officials. While the poppy trade still contributes nearly half of the funds funnelled to the Taliban - both in Afghanistan and Pakistan - officials now believe the militants are increasingly turning to other sources, including tobacco sales and smuggling, kidnappings, logging and mining.

"We believe tobacco has been second only to drugs as a source of finance to the Pakistani Taliban," David Kaplan, the editorial director of the US-based Center for Public Integrity (CPI), a non-profit organisation based in Washington, DC, said in a report last month.

With the US and Pakistan both engaged in fighting the Taliban, there is a growing consensus among officials that the only way to defeat the militants is to hit them where it hurts the most - their pockets.

But that is becoming increasingly difficult as the Taliban appear adept at switching sources of financing. . . .

But with efforts by the US to wipe out poppy farming in Afghanistan showing some success, and sanctions by the Pakistani government on charitable donations, the Taliban have been forced to look elsewhere for financial support.

According to the World Health Organization, cigarette and tobacco smuggling provides about $40bn a year to extremist groups, including the Taliban. Analysts inside Pakistan estimate the group receives about 20 per cent of its funding from counterfeit cigarette production and smuggling.

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• Government bans smoking in public 

ISLAMABAD: The government withdrew the Statutory Rules and Orders (SRO) on designated smoking areas, totally banning smoking in any place of public work to protect the health of non-smokers.

A notification has been issued in regards to rescinding the concerned SRO in an exercise of power conferred by section five of the prohibition of smoking and protection of non-smokers health ordinance, 2002.

After the withdrawal of SRO, the public will not be allowed to smoke or use tobacco in any form in any place of public work or use.

It is pertinent to mention here that earlier, all public and private offices were allowed to designate a separate place for smokers to smoke within office premises with adequate arrangements to protect the health of non-smokers.

However, such permission was being misused as it had become practice that smokers were using places in offices other than designated areas while many offices had failed to allocate designated places for smokers.

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• The Taliban and Tobacco 

As government sanctions restrict traditional sources of terrorist financing, Pakistani militant groups increasingly rely on proceeds from counterfeit cigarette production and smuggling, intelligence sources say. Although income figures are rough estimates at best, profits from the illicit cigarette trade account for as much as 20 percent of funding for these militant groups, second only to heroin production, according to terrorism experts in Pakistan. "Taliban and other militant groups do not have to do much," says Ikram Sehgal, a senior defense and security analyst who heads SMS Security, Pakistan's leading private security company. "They simply receive taxes on a regular basis from owners of illegal and legal cigarette factories and later for the safe passage they provide to the convoys."

Sahib Ayub Afridi: local philanthropist, convicted drug smuggler, and top cigarette counterfeiter in Pakistan.The Afridi case is part of a broader trend of terrorism groups relying on contraband to finance their activities, experts say. Even if efforts to cut the region's booming heroin production are successful -- an unlikely prospect -- the lucrative tobacco trade suggests how hard it will be to stanch funding to terrorists and insurgents in areas far from government control. The world's longest-running civil wars are fueled by contraband according to a 2002 study by Stanford University's James Fearon. Cocaine smuggling has largely propelled FARC's 40-year insurgency in Colombia. Diamonds have funded civil wars in Sierra Leone and Angola. Opium has led to drawn-out conflicts in Afghanistan and Burma.

In the badlands of the Afghan-Pakistan border, the challenges are particularly daunting.

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• Tobacco gurus brace for striking back 

Representatives of the tobacco industry are scheduled to meet the director general implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) here today (Thursday) to demand an extension in the January 1, 2010 deadline for incorporation of pictorial health warnings on cigarette packs and outers, credible sources informed 'The News' here on Wednesday.

Rumours are also rife in health circles about the tobacco industry's intention to persuade the Ministry of Health against the use of shocking and fear-arousing photographs and to settle on graphics and images that are 'mild' and 'light' -- deceptive terms, which the industry itself prints on cigarette packs to mislead consumers and to promote the false impression that brands with such inscriptions offer lower tar exposure and risk, compared to other varieties. Such terms have the potential to influence health-concerned smokers to delay or prevent quitting.

The meeting will be attended by DG Implementation FCTC and head of the Tobacco Control Cell Shaheen Masud, health education advisor Mazhar Nisar, and Abdus Sattar Chaudhry. The tobacco industry will have its point of articulated by representatives of Pakistan Tobacco Company and Lakson Tobacco Company. . . .

If the World Health Organisation can prohibit its staff from meeting persons associated with the tobacco industry, why can't the Ministry of Health institute similar curbs? In an interesting development, one of the tobacco giants operating in Islamabad has appointed its 'tobacco guru' working in Indonesia, as the head of government and media relations in Pakistan to counter the blitz of negative media and continuing onslaught of the regulators against the tobacco industry.

The decision is said to have been taken in view of the company's frustration with the waning influence of retired senior bureaucrats working for it against hefty salaries.

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• Landmark decisions for tobacco control 

The government reduced the tobacco industry to the size of a pygmy here Sunday by announcing immediate rollback of the controversial Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) on Designated Smoking Areas (DSAs) and making the printing of pictorial health warnings on cigarette packs and outers mandatory with effect from January 1, 2010.

The government also prohibited the tobacco companies from offering free giveaways, cash rebates or discounts as a marketing incentive. It also announced to make Pakistan Railways smoke-free from July 1, 2009.

Minister for Health Mir Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani made these surprise announcements at a seminar organised in connection with World No-Tobacco Day 2009 (WNTD) here on Sunday. By doing so, the government not only added a golden chapter to the history of tobacco control efforts in Pakistan but also regained its lost glory in the international health community, which felt the pinch of the country's pro-tobacco industry posture just as much as anti-tobacco campaigners at home. . . .

Jakhrani also announced that all railway trains will be smoke-free from July 1, 2009.

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• Pakistanis spend Rs1.2bn on tobacco every year 

Although tobacco is injurious to health, people in the country consume tobacco and its by-products worth Rs1.2 billion annually while the government has failed to take concrete steps to protect the masses from the health hazard involved in it.

This was pointed out by health professionals belonging to various medical organisations at a press briefing held on Friday at the Karachi Press Club in connection with World No Tobacco Day, being observed on May 31.

The briefing was organised under the aegis of the National Alliance for Tobacco Control.

The speakers called for effective tobacco control to save around 100,000 lives lost every year in the country to the diseases caused by tobacco use.

Dr Nadeem Rizvi, head of the JPMC chest diseases department, said that more than 50 per cent of deaths because of lung diseases could be prevented by eradicating smoking.

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• Nothing but withdrawal of order to appease anti-smoking campaigners 

With World No-Tobacco Day just nine days away, expectations run high because nothing short of withdrawal of the controversial Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) legitimising the creation of designated smoking areas in Pakistan will be acceptable to anti-tobacco networks, alliances, and campaigners working at both the national as well as the global levels.

"Important announcements will be made on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day," a high official of the Ministry of Health was recently reported as having stated. It is about time the ministry also realises that the only announcement that is important enough from the perspective of anti-tobacco lobbies at home and abroad, as well as the World Health Organisation (WHO), is repeal of the SRO that promotes smoking in designated areas.

Pakistan shocked the international community in September 2008 when its Ministry of Health decided to legitimise the long-disputed smoking lounges by issuing guidelines for their establishment. The SRO projected the country in a negative limelight, given that Article 8 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and the Guidelines adopted by the WHO FCTC Conference of Parties, makes it legally binding for all signatories to adopt and implement effective legislative measures for protection against exposure to tobacco smoke.

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• Tobacco smoke free homes project launched 

National Tobacco Control Cell in partnership with Association for Social Development Pakistan, National Health Services (NHS) Leeds, and Institute of Public Health on Wednesday launched a project for promoting `tobacco smoke free homes’ in the country.

The project was started with an aim to protect the households more specifically young children and pregnant women from harmful effects of secondhand smoke.

Under the project a comprehensive approach led by district health services and involving all key stakeholders will be developed.

The potential of involving health facility staff, community based health workers, school teachers, community leaders and Mosque Imams will be explored.

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• FBR plans crackdown on cigarette smuggling 

To protect the local tax paying cigarette industry and counter growing revenue losses, the Federal Board of Revenue has finalised plans to launch a crackdown against the rising trade of foreign brand cigarettes smuggling into the country.

FBR officials said that cigarette smuggling was increasingly damaging the government’s initiatives to expand tax revenue.

‘We are in the process of setting up of a number of teams in all the four provinces where they would conduct raids at the already marked dumping places as well as retail outlets of smuggled cigarettes,’ FBR official said.

Officials estimate that Pakistan suffers an annual loss of around Rs7.4 billion in terms of revenues and investment inflicted on the cigarette industry due to continued smuggling and illicit trade

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• Tobacco: PAKISTAN TOBACCO COMPANY - Analysis of Financial Statement Financial Year 2003 - Financial Year 2008 

Pakistan Tobacco Company Limited (PTC) is part of British American Tobacco - the world's most international tobacco group - with brands sold in 180 markets around the world. The company produces high quality tobacco products to meet the diverse preferences of millions of consumers, and it works in all areas of the business - from seed to smoke. . . .

The ratification of Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC) by Pakistan, coupled with marketing restrictions of various kinds has not bid well for tobacco manufacturers. Furthermore, there have been increased taxes and duties levied by the government on tobacco products and producers. In fact, in February 2009, the government increased the Federal Excise Duty on tobacco products. Considering that the cost of doing business will not subside in the near future for manufacturers due to prevalence of high inflation and fuel costs, these factors would hurt the future earnings of PTC.

Furthermore, the head office of PTC was destroyed by the Marriott bombings in Islamabad. The company will continue to incur costs arising due to relocation and repairs, as their new Head Office is not ready yet and they are still heading their operations from an alternate location. There is also a lot of concern about the volatile situation in the NWFP due to terrorism activities. Keep in mind that much of PTC's tobacco growers are in the NWFP area and so is one of its manufacturing facilities.

A very serious threat to the tobacco manufacturers of Pakistan in general, and PTC in particular, is the scourge of smuggled cigarettes in the country.

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