November 25, 2003	Tuesday	Ramazan 29, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Nov 24: The government has given six months time to tobacco companies to print newly-approved health warnings against smoking by utilizing 30 per cent space of the cigarette packs.

An official source told Dawn that the stipulated period would expire in April next year, after which, punitive measures would be taken against the companies not following the government directions. The period of six months has been given so that the stock of tobacco products already available in the markets can be consumed.

The government has recently approved a new set of codes relating to tobacco advertisements, under which the local tobacco producers have been bound to print “tobacco causes cancer and heart diseases,” on cigarette packs.

Earlier, the locally-produced cigarette packs carried health warning: “Smoking is injurious to health”.

The new codes were approved during a recently-held federal implementation committee meeting, which was presided over by health minister Mohammad Nasir Khan. The meeting also decided that the billboards should carry health warnings by utilizing 20 per cent space of the advertisement to apprise the general public of the hazards of smoking.

The committee had allowed the electronic media to air tobacco advertisements between 12 midnight and 6am.

The meeting had also decided to form implementation committees at both the provincial and district levels for the implementation of tobacco ordinance by launching campaigns. The provincial ministers will head the provincial committees, while district Nazims will head the district committee.

The tobacco companies have also asked the government to discourage the inflow of smuggled cigarette packs that did not carry any health warnings.

The government had banned smoking in public places by promulgating an ordinance.

A recent study suggested that over 99,000 people die annually in Pakistan due to smoking. The government has to spend approximately Rs500 million annually for the treatment of patients suffering from tobacco-related diseases.

A WHO study also suggested that the government earned an annual revenue of Rs40 billion from the cigarette industry, out of which it received Rs216,000 against each death caused due to smoking-related disease.