Is tobacco company seriously concerned about people's lungs in Pakistan?

Published in:
Asian Tribune: 15 April 2007: http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/5330
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Is tobacco company seriously concerned about people's lungs in Pakistan?

Bobby Ramakant

Will Pakistan Tobacco Company protect people's lungs by building environment parks alone? Nine out of ten lung cancers are attributed to tobacco use, says Pakistan's noted expert Prof Javaid Khan. Time to seriously ponder and act on to make effective tobacco control a reality.

A said Senior Chest Physician and noted tobacco control advocate Prof (Dr) Javaid Khan from Aga Khan University. He further said that by such collaboration, tobacco industry is trying to tell the public that they are doing public welfare for the country. Previously they also claimed that they have made mobile dispensaries for poor patient and planted million of trees in the country to help the environment. Our government should not accept money from the tobacco industry as this money is tainted with the blood of those who have died from tobacco related diseases.

If tobacco industry is seriously interested in public welfare, the first step it can take on its own is to reduce the mountainous burden of diseases, disabilities and deaths attributed to tobacco use. By building environment parks for people's lungs and hoping people will believe that they are concerned about their lungs, tobacco industry must be kidding! People of Pakistan are smart enough to understand that the single largest preventable cause of lung cancer is tobacco.

"Unfortunately, tobacco corporations like British American Tobacco, Philip Morris/Altria and their subsidiaries (Pakistan Tobacco Company is the subsidiary of BAT) have attempted to interfere with the implementation and enforcement of the global tobacco treaty in countries around the world. These corporations use their tremendous political influence to weaken, delay and defeat tobacco control legislation around the world." said Kathryn Mulvey, Executive Director of Corporate Accountability International (www.stopcorporateabuse.org ).

Corporate Accountability International has been urging governments to be attentive to tobacco industry interference in public health policy, said Kathryn Mulvey. BAT and Philip Morris/Altria spend millions annually in an attempt to brand themselves as "socially responsible" corporations. This allows them to hide behind glossy image make-overs while continuing to promote tobacco addiction to children and adults around the world.

"Pakistan Tobacco Company sought to curry public favor through a public-private partnership to build the Ghourgushti Environment Park in Pakistan's Attock district. Pakistan's Prime Minister Mr. Shaukat Aziz accepted the tobacco corporation's invitation to lay the foundation stone at the Park's ground-breaking. This behavior is one clear example of tobacco corporations seeking to buy favor with the public and with elected officials" said Mulvey.

All around the world, people are rejecting Big Tobacco's attempts to interfere with health policy. And people of Pakistan are no exception. Let us hope that Government of Pakistan will dissociate itself from this 'environment park' venture with Pakistan Tobacco Company to begin with and further strengthen its commitment to global tobacco treaty.

Bobby Ramakant

(The author is a senior health and development journalist writing for newspapers in Asia and Africa. He is a member of Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnational (NATT). He can be contacted at: bobbyramakant@yahoo.com)
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Keep-The-Promise Campaign is a 120 days (7 April – 4 August 2007) media advocacy and communications campaign dedicated to raise awareness about existing tobacco control legislations (including FCTC) in countries in Asia and Africa, bring out challenges in their enforcement and increase media coverage of the same. The campaign shall also remind of promises made on tobacco control by policy makers of different countries in Asia and Africa and strengthen advocacy to Keep The Promises! More details about the KTP Campaign are available online at: http://mycitizennews.blogspot.com/2007/04/keep-promise-campaign.html

Pic and choose: Statutory warnings go up in smoke?

Pic and choose: Statutory warnings go up in smoke?
Priyanka Tiwari
14 April 2007
The Times of India
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The Health Minister wants tobacco products to carry pictorial warnings to discourage consumers. Will pictures speak louder than words?

In an attempt to promote healthy living and dissuade people from smoking, the Health Minister Ambumani Ramadoss recently announced that it would be mandatory for tobacco companies to carry pictorial warnings including photographs of corpses, disfigurements caused due to cancer and smoking induced impotency on cigarette and pan masala packets.

While written statutory warnings have not been able to discourage people from smoking, we find out whether picture support would prove helpful for the anti-tobacco cause or if there's a need for a stronger campaign to cut down on tobacco consumption in the country.

According to Ramadoss, no matter what the size of the packet, tobacco companies will not be able to sell their products sans pictorial warnings. But would pictures serve as a viable method in India which is home to 200 million tobacco users?

"Any kind of effort to discourage people from smoking is worth applauding. What needs to be done is to make continuous efforts, lest the issue lose its seriousness," opines adman Prasoon Joshi, who had worked on a lot of anti-smoking campaigns, the latest being with Viveik Oberoi and Urmila Matondkar.

Reacting to the announcement of the Ministry, actor Suresh Oberoi, who was a chain smoker earlier, says, "When my own son stood up for this cause, I decided to kick the habit. As for the pictorial warnings, well, they would indeed catch the attention of the people, but I think those who've remained unperturbed by written statutory warnings will not be affected by pictures either."

"I believe a sound campaign against tobacco consumption is required to spread awareness about the ill-effects of the same," adds Oberoi.

Interestingly, Ramadoss' proposal is not novel and pictoral warnings on tobacco products are already in place in Canada, Brazil, Australia, and Singapore. The European Union too has been pushing for pictorial warnings on cigarette packets, with Belgium already bringing in legislation to this effect.

Naturally then, the medical fraternity is quite pleased with the government's proposal but at the same time, seems apprehensive too. As Dr Prakash Kumar Tripathi, consultant, respiratory medicine in Kanpur points out, "I appreciate the concern shown by the Health Ministry to discourage smoking, but I also think that people who've already been ignoring statutory warnings wouldn't take interest in looking at pictures.

Warnings alone don't help, what we need is to make people understand the adverse effects of smoking on their own health as well as that of people around them. It could be done through campaigns, advertisements on TV and radio, small documentary films andhoardings at public places."

However, Anita Peter, director of Cancer Patients Aids Association (CPAA) feels that pictures are going to have a better impact than words. She says, "In Canada, a survey conducted after implementing pictorial warnings on cigarette packs found that the number of smokers had gone down considerably.

This proves the impact of pictures on people." But she also believes that a lot more needs to be done, especially keeping in mind the youth. "Making youngsters understand the detrimental effects of smoking early on will help. It is difficult to quit smoking once you are addicted to it," she adds.

The Indian Tobacco Company has already been issuing warnings on cigarette packs. Is the idea of pictorial w-arnings supported by the company? To this PN Shangari, Branch Manager, ITC, Lucknow asserts, "Pictures aren't going to make much of a difference.

If they do help people to limit tobacco consumption, it would be good. After all, our warnings also aim at making people understand that excess of cigarette smoking is harmful."

Email: kanpur.times@timesgroup.com

Online at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/City_Supplements/Kanpur_Times/Pic_and_choose_Statutory_warnings_go_up_in_smoke/articleshow/msid-1907330,curpg-1.cms