Q Isa Daudpota September 29, 1999

Tags: Government , Pakistan

The article, the first in a series, shows how Pakistanis can fight the tobacco menace by countering the highly effective tactics of the multi-national and national tobacco giants that sell death to our people.

href="/tag/cricket">cricket match on the large
screen. Just then the batsman hammers the ball and it's destined for
the wilderness outside the stadium. But that's not to be. Our handsome
hero, transforms superman-style into a cricketer in white, leaps high
into open space and retrieves the ball to the admiration of all
around. The attractive women look on approvingly. Nonchalantly, a
packet of Pakistan's most expensive brand, Gold Leaf, is pulled out
and lit to celebrate the mythical success. You really didn't have to
imagine this drama. This ad played incessantly on TV during my wasted
days watching the game. If this ad isn't showing now then there are
others. British American Tobacco Company's subsidiary, PTC, knows that
such seductive ads bring in more smokers; a fact not lost on its
national and foreign competitors.

Take the case of another company and yet another brand. Here is this
under-construction building under threat from a bomb planted on the
roof. The alarm rings and there is panic. But hold it! There are
thankfully two strong, good-looking guys who take to climbing the
shuttering and reach the bomb just as it is about to explode. Having
disposed it off these two sit rakishly on a plank high up on the
building relaxing with a pack of ciggies.

The spirit of adventure, and daring to take risks, comes naturally to
those who smoke ... that is the message! And it is being diffused into
the minds of the impressionable youth through endless ads in papers,
periodicals, on hoardings and by the electronic media. The mandatory
health warning is kept short and indistinct, and it quickly becomes a
blurs in the memory while the attractiveness of the product begins to
work on the mind.

While the anti-tobacco movement in the USA helped lower cigarette
sales, Big Tobacco, the largest US companies: Philip Morris, R.J.
Reynolds and Brown and Williamson, as well as the British American
Tobacco Co have continued to expand overseas. They have flooded the
markets in Asia and Eastern Europe with advertisements, promotional
products and cut-price brands designed to encourage new smokers. Their
loud presence is also designed to assure existing smokers that they
are on to a ’cool' thing.

The obscene bombardment of cigarette ads in our newspapers and
periodicals, on TV, and the sponsorship of sports events has stirred
anti-tobacco activists to resist the brain-washing. This involves
public education and lobbying government functionaries and politicians
about the health hazard to encourage legislation against public
advertising and the sale of tobacco. Thailand's strategy against Big
Tobacco's encroachment holds important lessons for others in our
regions.

It was 1985 when the car-clogged highway to Bangkok International
airport started spouting billboard with broad scenes of the American
West with the lone Marlboro man lighting up. Then followed full-colour
ads in the Thai glossy mags. All this seemed strange to physician
Prakit Vateesatokit, because Thai rules effectively banned the import
of foreign cigarettes, and the only American brands sold were at the
duty free shops or were smuggled packs. In early 1989 it was leaked
that the Thai Finance Ministry was on the verge of opening the
country's markets to US brands, following three years of secret
negotiations with US Trade Rep's Office. Big Tobacco was about to
enter a new market with great potential. Thais, 15 years old and
above, on average smoke 1,765 cigarettes per year. [The largest
consumers in Asia are Japanese (3240) and South Korean (3010). WHO
figures of 1993.] It was estimated that the industry would earn at
least $150 million in cigarette sales from Thailand within a few
years.

This did not happen, thanks to a handful of Thai health officials and
doctors. Led by Prakit and Dr Hatai Chitanondh, a senior official in
the Health Ministry, the counter-attack was aided by anti-smoking
activists from other parts of Asia and from the US. Nationalist
sentiments and economic self-interest became the drivers for pushing
the Thai government and the state-run tobacco monopoly to support the
cause. They got themselves appointed to official delegations that
fought the US trade demands before the World Trade Organization
(WTO). Their persuasive arguments based on health grounds won
acceptance from the WTO panel. The full story of the battle warrants
another article; here we only touch on the end result and suggest how
lessons learnt in Thailand and from the US anti-tobacco lobbying
effort can be used in Pakistan.

The tobacco companies won a technical victory. WTO ruled that
Thailand's ban on imported cigarettes violated the General Agreement
on Tariffs and Trade. In practical terms Thailand succeeded
admirably. Today it boasts some of the strongest anti- smoking laws in
the world. Imported cigarettes only amount to 3% of the total used
compared with the 25% market share that Big Tobacco expected. This
victory has emboldened anti-tobacco movements throughout
Asia. Countries such as China, Japan, Taiwan, Mongolia and South Korea
are adopting strict regulations against advertising and sale of
cigarettes, though sales continue to increase. Tobacco industry still
expects significant increase in consumption as modernization and
growing affluence among Asian women and youth propels the numbers of
smokers.

In Pakistan the tobacco industry is in a far stronger position than
Thailand, hence the fight to reduce tobacco use will need innovative
thinking. There is encouraging news to help this along -- the recent
US out-of-court agreement by the Big Tobacco made with the US
government to pay the huge sum of $ 360 billion suggests that
sentiment against the tobacco manufacturers is now changing in the
US. This settlement came in the wake of about 40 US states suing Big
Tobacco to pay for the cost incurred for patients who suffer from
tobacco related diseases. Before long such trials in other countries
backed by anti-tobacco campaigns have a good chance of reducing
profits from this industry, and generating compensation for damage
which should then be channelled into prevention of tobacco addiction
and treatment of those with tobacco related diseases.

It is important that the recent US landmark tobacco industry
settlement be studied fully by anti-tobacco groups in Pakistan with
expert advice sought from lawyers who specialize in product liability
litigation. One wonders whether US and Pakistani tobacco companies can
be taken to courts in their respective countries for damage to the
health of Pakistanis. How can an anti-tobacco coalition adapt the
successful strategy of their US counterparts to win health claim
damages in court?

A national coalition of groups fighting tobacco should be formed to
produced a coordinated educational and legal offensive against the
tobacco lobby. In this, the government needs to be persuaded about the
overall harm cigarettes cause which in the end exceeds greatly the
revenue generated by this industry. The first step could be to begin
reducing the power of the government's Tobacco Board that provides
support for tobacco industry, and was presumably created with support
from large tobacco companies. Tobacco is the crop that been provided
such preferential treatment by the government.

First "The Great People to Fly With" who run the national airline
refused to stop smoking on flight. This despite several letters to
PIA's management and to the press that drew attention to the dangers
of secondary smoke. No one took note until Mr Nawaz Sharif declared a
smoking ban on domestic flights. After initial defiance by the
air-travelling influentials, it has come to be accepted. The PML
government should now look at other areas where tobacco is causing
serious damage to human health and to move legislation to reduce it.
It could start noting that the tax it collects from tobacco companies
and product sales isn't adequate compensation for the enormous health
damage caused by the product. It should require hospitals to note
clearly cases of pulmonary and other diseases that are caused by the
patients' smoking habits.

Just as an increasing number of Pakistanis become addicted to
cigarettes, the state and its prominent media institutions have come
to enjoy the patronage through tobacco taxes, sponsorship and
advertisement. It is now time to wean off this tainted money. One
hopes that Mr Sharif will take a leadership role, as did Mr Clinton,
in the reducing smoking through education and strong legislation.