Illicit trade of tobacco products detrimental to health

Rawalpindi
Illicit tobacco products hook young people into tobacco experimentation and use because they are more affordable. Such illicit products also mislead young tobacco users by not displaying health warnings and sometimes involving children in illegal selling activities.
Illicit trade takes tax revenue from the government and strengthens corruption and poor governance. It has security implications as well through financing organised crime, including drugs, human and arms trafficking, as well as terrorism. One in ten cigarettes, and many other tobacco products, consumed worldwide are illegal. The tobacco industry and criminal groups are among those who profit from the illegal tobacco trade, leaving the public to pay the health and security costs.
Head of Community Medicine at CMH Lahore Medical College Professor Dr Muhammad Ashraf Chaudhry expressed this while talking to ‘The News’ in connection with World No Tobacco Day which is observed on May 31 every year. The theme of World No Tobacco Day this year is ‘Stop illicit trade of tobacco products’.
Pakistan is flooded with smuggled tobacco products and if it wants to win anti-smoking battle, it needs to block the entry of smuggled cigarettes into the country. Non-duty paid, or smuggled or illegal cigarettes do not carry pictorial, written health warning in Urdu, retail price, and underage warning, said Professor Ashraf.
He added that community should play its due role in checking the menace and inform the Directorate of Intelligence and Investigation about illegal cigarette trade that has already begun a toll-free number 0800-77377. There is a fine of Rs50,000, five-year imprisonment and seizure of illegal stock for the offence, he said.
It is important that tobacco kills nearly six million people every year worldwide. Unless urgent action is taken, the annual death toll could rise to more than eight million by 2030.
Tobacco killed 100 million people in the 20th century. If current trends continue, it may cause one billion deaths in the 21st century. Nearly 80 per cent of the world’s one billion smokers live in low- and middle-income countries. Tobacco users who die prematurely deprive their families of income, said Professor Ashraf.
He added that tobacco-related diseases kill 120,000 people in Pakistan every year — more than suicide bombing, road traffic accidents, honour killings and drug abuse combined. Tobacco is nothing but other name of disease, death and disability. Major tobacco related diseases are lung cancer, heart diseases, high blood pressure, bad breath, gum diseases, depression, thyroid disease, harmful effects on bones and teeth, impotency, baldness and infertility in women, he said while responding to a query.
He explained that there are more than 4,000 chemicals in tobacco smoke, of which 250 are known to be harmful and more than 50 are known to cause cancer.
Second hand smoke also causes serious cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, including heart disease and lung cancer. In infants, it causes sudden death. In pregnant women, it causes low birth weight babies, he said.
Talking of impact on economy, he said Pakistanis burn away over Rs60 crore daily on cigarettes alone and nearly equal amount on smokeless tobacco — Naswar, Paan, Pan Masala, Gutka, Mainpuri, and the like yet smoking is advertised as a pleasurable and ‘cool’ activity on shop-fronts and in youth magazines.
He added that TV drama serials also indirectly promote tobacco products. Although according to anti-smoking law, every owner, manager or in-charge of every place of public work or use must display a signboard at a conspicuous place, in and outside the premises visited by the general public, stating that the place is a ‘NO SMOKING ZONE’ and that ‘SMOKING IS AN OFFENCE’ but practically such signboard is hardly available at any public place including hotels and restaurants, said Professor Ashraf.
He is of the view that tobacco advertising ban in Pakistan at present is only partial. From TV and billboards, the advertising of cigarettes has shifted to street walls and tobacco selling shops. Tobacco industry is carrying out hidden promotional activities despite strict ban.
Research has shown that partial ban on cigarettes has no impact on decreasing the prevalence of smoking, he said.
To a query, Professor Ashraf said Pakistan needs a total ban on tobacco advertising if the country had to protect its youth from the hazards of smoking. Half measures are not enough. In addition to electronic and print media, ban should be extended on advertising smoking in dramas, movies, fashion magazines, billboards, fun fairs, musical concerts, sports, shops etc, he said.