THIS is apropos a news report (March 14) in which tobacco farmers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have appealed to the government to withdraw the decision about 85pc pictorial health warning on cigarette packs. The tobacco farmers also raised concerns that increasing the size of pictorial warning on cigarette pack would adversely affect the livelihood of farmers and people associated with tobacco business.

According to the World Health Organisation, the pictorial warning on the cigarette pack is a proven strategy to reduce the prevalence of smoking in any country. Estimated 100,000 people die in Pakistan every year from tobacco addiction and equal numbers get disabled from smoking-related illnesses like cancer, heart attacks and strokes.

Instead of becoming party to spreading disease, disability and death in Pakistan from tobacco use, may I suggest tobacco farmers to shift their farming to some alternative crop which is not bad for health? A report from the World Bank a few years ago warned that tobacco is not good for any country’s economy and makes a poor country poorer.

Increasing the size of pictorial warning on the cigarette pack is a welcome step by the government and doctors like me who see the victims of tobacco every day support this move.

Javaid A. Khan

Chair, National Alliance for Tobacco Control

Karachi

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2015

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