Seminar Demands Increase In Graphic Health Warnings On Cigarette Packs

The Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) organized a Seminar on "Sustainable Tobacco Control Policies in Pakistan" that demanded the rotation and enhancing the size of pictorial warnings on cigarette packs

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th Nov, 2022 ) :The Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) organized a Seminar on "Sustainable Tobacco Control Policies in Pakistan" that demanded the rotation and enhancing the size of pictorial warnings on cigarette packs.

Speaking on the occasion Director General Health Dr Shabana Saleem said that the Ministry of National Health Services Regulations and Coordination had been considering to increase the size of pictorial warnings on cigarette packs by 60 to 85 per cent as bigger photos have more impact.

She said youngsters were the asset of any nation and it would be a disaster if the youth in bulk started tobacco consumption.

She said Pakistan was a signatory of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and bound to work under a plan for the secession of tobacco.

She said Statutory Regulatory Orders (SROs) were available to control tobacco consumption and those SROs were amended when needed.

She informed the participants that the health ministry was working on a national-level application that would provide psychological support and guidelines to those who wanted to quit the consumption of tobacco with self-help.

She said that policies at the provincial and Federal level were available and those policies could be implemented with public-private partnerships.

Speaking on the occasion Executive Director SPARC Asiya Arif said that the federal government needed to address the gaps between tobacco taxation and to implement the laws in compliance with the FCTC convention.