ISLAMABAD: While the theme for this year’s World No Tobacco Day – which will be observed next week – is the introduction of plain packaging of tobacco products, Pakistan is still embroiled in a debate on whether an 85pc pictorial warning should be introduced on cigarette packets.

The tobacco industry has latched on to the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) ‘Say No to Corruption’ slogan, and may be willing to emblazon that on cigarette packets rather than increase the pictorial warning.

Pakistan introduced text warnings on cigarette packets in 1979, and these warnings were improved after the Prohibition of Smoking Ordinance was passed in 2002. In 2004, Pakistan ratified the World Health Organisation Convention on Tobacco Control, and five years later it was decided that pictorial warnings would be introduced on cigarette packets.

National Health Services (NHS) Minister Saira Afzal Tarar, on No Tobacco day (May 31) in 2014, announced that she would change the pictorial warning and increase its size from 40pc to 85pc before the next No Tobacco Day. The plan has not yet been implemented.

Separately, NAB launched an anti-corruption campaign with the slogan ‘Say No to Corruption’, and proposed that the slogan be added to cigarette packets. The NHS ministry then suggested this to the tobacco industry.

In a letter available with Dawn, the industry said packets already contain warnings in Urdu and English, as well as a pictorial warning and a warning that selling cigarettes to minors was prohibited.

The letter argued that cigarette manufacturers are bound to state retail prices, sales tax, the name of the manufacturer and the country where the product was produced on each packet. The pictorial warning was also being increased from 40pc, it said.

The tobacco industry declined to incorporate the message, and suggested that it would propagate the message through the media.

However, an NHS ministry official – requesting anonymity – said the industry was trying to ensure that the size of the pictorial warning is not increased, and was ready to include the anti-corruption slogan if the warning’s size is not increased.

“The ministry should not give a good message, like say no to corruption, through [tobacco] which becomes a reason for a number of diseases, including cancer.

“We have been trying to increase the pictorial warning’s size for over a year but failed to implement it. Now the time has come to go for plain packaging of tobacco products, just like developed countries,” he said.

“If the plain packaging proposal is implemented, the grievance of the tobacco industry that they mention the name of the country and manufacturer will also be addressed,” he said.

NHS Secretary Ayub Sheikh told Dawn that the ministry would not compromise on pictorial warnings, and has written to NAB to say that it is not legally binding to write ‘Say No to Corruption’ on cigarette packets, and so the tobacco industry cannot be forced to do so.

He added that the size of the pictorial warning would be increased gradually, and if they have the option to, the ministry would go for plain packaging since its implementation would automatically address all the issues.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2016