Sensible solution

According to the BBC, the government in England will give one million smokers a free vaping starter kit to encourage them to give up smoking and pregnant women will be offered up to GBP400 to stop smoking as part of a package to reduce smoking rates. This is a huge step towards a smoke-free England.

In Pakistan, however, we have not thought about employing tobacco harm reduction products as a way of reducing the prevalence of smoking. Unfortunately, the organizations working on tobacco control are calling for banning the tobacco harm reduction products such as vapes, which will only be counterproductive for the long-term smokers who have not been able to quit. Tobacco harm reduction products, if sensibly regulated and used, can help them.

Junaid Ali Khan

Islamabad