ISLAMABAD: It’s very unfortunate to know, as reported by media, that members of Senate’s Standing Committee on Health defended interests of tobacco industry in the committee meeting and opposed the bill to ban tobacco advertisement presented in the larger interest of public health.
This is ironic that the representatives of the people who pledge to serve the people defended tobacco industry instead of ensuring good national health. Coalition for Tobacco Control in Pakistan (CTC-Pak) , National Coordinator Khurram Hashmi in a statement while expressing his disappointment over the standing committee members’ stance has said, “what tobacco industry is contributing to the economy, is far less than what it costs in terms of health expenditure the country bears because of the health hazards caused by tobacco.
The people engaged with tobacco business may move to some other business but the health loss caused by the tobacco industry is not recoverable. Needless to say that tobacco is the biggest menace for healthcare of Pakistan. More money is spent on treating tobacco-related diseases than the revenue generation.”
He said as a signatory to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) which was binding on all member states with WHO, banning tobacco advertisement was one of the major step every country had to take in addition to many other measures including increasing taxation, banning tobacco sale within 500 yards of educational institutions, banning tobacco use in public places etc.
Hence, implementing FCTC framework convention, protocols and covenants were legally binding on Pakistan. Interestingly, the Ministry of Health had just the other announced new health policy, after a gap of 15 years, ensuring good health of citizens of Pakistan and pledging to overcome the factors which caused chronic diseases.
But, unfortunately, public representative institutions and bodies were, in a way, promoting tobacco use which was the major risk factor of fatal non-communicative diseases. The CTC-Pak a coalition of more than 250 CBOs, strongly condemns the tobacco industry’s influence over the government and public institutions and demands immediate enforcement of larger graphic health warning on cigarette packs, vigorous monitoring of implementation of tobacco control laws and complete ban of tobacco advertisements of any type.
The CTC-Pak also urges government to make their correspondence with tobacco industry transparent and make meetings’ minutes public.
