Rights group challenges stance of tobacco company

Islamabad
TheNetwork for Consumer Protection has sent a letter to the chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), contending the contents of a letter in which a top official of a cigarette manufacturing company has warned the FBR of a major shortfall in revenue collection in case the new pictorial health warning on cigarette packs is adopted.
The company’s official is stated to have given a number of reasons to establish how a pictorial health warning covering 85% of the front and back of cigarette packs will be detrimental to the government’s tax collection targets, while also paving the way for increase in the sale of smuggled cigarettes.
TheNetwork for Consumer Protection, in its capacity as a tobacco control advocate, has termed the contents of the letter ‘self-contradictory’ as on the one hand, it says the new pictorial health warning will have a negative impact on the government’s revenue collection drive, while on the other hand, it admits that these warnings make little difference in overall tobacco consumption by stating “There is no consistent and credible evidence that extra large pictorial health warnings will have any discernible impact on reducing or discouraging tobacco use.”
Similarly, there is no logic in linking adoption of health warnings with increase in smuggling of illicit cigarettes as pictorial health warnings have nothing to do with smuggling of illicit tobacco. “Smuggling is an enforcement issue and should be seen in isolation from tobacco consumption,” TheNetwork has pointed out.
The industry goes on to state that raising the size of the health warning will affect its right to freedom of trade. “It may be mentioned that freedom of trade embodied in Article 18 is not an absolute right and is subject to qualifications prescribed by statutory law. Right to free trade cannot be given precedence over fundamental right to life Under Article 9 of the Constitution,” TheNetwork has maintained.
Scientific evidence corroborated by the World Health Organization (WHO) proves that warnings on cigarette packs lead to a decline in the number of youth who are inclined to initiating tobacco smoking, and helps smokers to quit smoking, thus reducing burden on health and economy.
“As far as the jurisdiction of provinces on the subject of health is concerned, this issue does not fall within the jurisdiction of the FBR. It seems the industry has generated this debate only to divert the attention of the authorities and to delay regulations in this context,” rights group has warned.
Since Pakistan is a signatory of the Frame Convention on Tobacco Control, the federal government is under obligation to regulate the tobacco industry and it does so in line with the constitutional provisions of Entry 3 and 32 of the Federal Legislative List {Fourth Schedule}. Furthermore, the subject of tobacco regulations including health warnings on cigarette packs relates to implementation of the treaty. The federal government alone is competent to implement the provision of the FCTC at the national level, and supported with Entry 58 and 59 of the Federal Legislative List (Fourth Schedule), to safeguard millions of lives. As such, there is no doubt about the federal government’s competence to legislate on tobacco and other related matters.
TheNetwork believes that the industry’s demand for the FBR to prevail upon the Ministry of National Health Services to rescind the intention of issuing the proposed regulation is beyond its mandate. “Unfortunately, the industry has based its thesis of increase in illicit tobacco trade and loss to national exchequer due to smuggling of cigarettes on an academically weak report to peddle public authorities on its own favourable terrain through economic arguments,” it has pointed out.
TheNetwork has demanded that the FBR should instantly reject the communication and snub the industry for taking the liberty to try to influence government institutions in a bid to protect its own interests.