KARACHI, SEP 14 (DNA) – Kashif Mirza, the Media Manager of Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) has said that almost 16 percent cigarettes are being sold illegally and some big tobacco companies are involved in selling of cigarettes and this survey has already been approved by the Pakistan Health Research Council (PHRC) while with the cooperation of Health Ministry’s Tobacco Control Cell that was responsible to implement on suggestions.
During a session on Sunday at MCA Town Hall Saddar on a specific topic ‘who is responsible for illegal sale of tobacco?” Kashif Mirza revealed that the results of research are not only formed in-time but also suitable for new budget and it would be helpful to increase tax on tobacco products.
Survey was conducted over 6,000 smokers and they were asked that “do you want to give-up smoking and what steps should be taken against smoking?” and the survey results found that every smoker is being spend Rs.2,000 while each participant smokes at least 13 cigarettes per day hence, near about 75% smokers want to give-up smoking but because of no proper guidance, medicines and treatment they remain un-succeeded.
Haris Jadoon, the Field Manager was satisfied on the results of survey report and declared that the present government’s tax reforms for tobacco industry are satisfactory and found positive effects. He further stated that most smokers want to get rid of with smoking and they are also against smoking because of its bad results and the majority of smokers support all anti-smoking steps and state policies.
Shumaila Muzammil disclosed that the survey was conducted in 10 most populated cities by Studying Tobacco Users of Pakistan (STUP) and evaluated over 8,000 packets of cigarettes to know how many cigarettes are being smuggled or illegally sold and STUP found that almost 16% of cigarettes are being sold illegally but these result are less than the claims of tobacco industry. =DNA
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 – Kashif Mirza, the Media Manager of Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC)){kind=link}