PESHAWAR: The World Health Organisation wants complete ban on all forms of tobacco advertisements and its sale to put brakes on fatal diseases like cancer, according to health officials.

They said that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Prohibition of Smoking/Tobacco Products and Protection of Non-Smokers Health Bill, 2016 presented in the provincial assembly on Sept 26, was yet to be passed due to the strong resistance by tobacco producers who had threatened to start producing opium if the bill was made a law.

Health officials told Dawn that this situation had upset the WHO, which had been assisting the provincial government in anti-tobacco measures.

Wants complete ban on tobacco ads, sale of cigarettes

“The WHO wants the passage of the bill to pave the way for reduction in use of tobacco in the form of cigarettes, pan, gutka and naswar, but the bill has been sent to a select committee of the assembly where it is being delayed,” they said.

The officials said that Pakistan had ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2014 due to which it was important for it to make and enforce law against use of tobacco and its products.

WHO’s official Shahzad Alam Khan told Dawn that they had planned to hold a consultative meeting in Peshawar and speak to the authorities concerned about the law very soon. “The WHO wants ban on promotional advertisements of tobacco to safeguard people against diseases. There should be ban on sale of single cigarettes and the price of the tobacco and its product should be enhanced,” he said.

The official said that they wanted that there should be 75 per cent sales tax on the retail price of the tobacco to make it costlier. He said that the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and its guidelines provided the foundation for countries to implement and manage tobacco control. To help make this a reality, the world health agency has introduced measures to assist in reducing the demand for tobacco products at the country level, he said.

Sources in the health department said that the province produced the finest tobacco in the country and those cultivating it earned more amounts compared to their earnings from any other agricultural yield. Tobacco is a cash crop for which the producers receive payment from the cigarette manufacturers in advance due to which there has been strong resistance from the stakeholders, they said.

Health Minister Shahram Tarakai said that he had sent the proposed law to the assembly. “It is now up to the assembly to approve it under normal procedure,” he added.

Sources said that being beneficiaries of the tobacco-related businesses several members of the provincial assemblies and ministers didn’t want the passage of the bill into a law, as their income would fall if the law was enacted.

The proposed law prohibits the use of tobacco at public places, its sale near educational institutes and promotional activities by the makers to safeguard non-smokers against its potential effects on health.

The sources said that the multinational as well as local cigarette manufacturers were very influential and they would employ every tactic to block any law banning promotion and sale of tobacco.

Published in Dawn October 26th, 2016