Pakistan going for 85 percent graphic warnings

Pakistan’s Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Co-ordination, Saira Afzal Tarar, said yesterday that all cigarette packs sold in the country would have to carry new graphic warnings covering 85 percent of both the front and back panels, according to a story in the Business Recorder.

Addressing a press conference, the minister said that tobacco companies would start implementing the requirements from March 30 and that efforts would be made to have all cigarette packs carrying the new warnings by May 30.

The minister said, too, that the government had decided to increases taxes on tobacco products, and that, in this regard, a committee, with representation from the World Health Organization and the Federal Board of Revenue, had been set up with the aim of stopping tobacco use.

According to the minister, Pakistan will be the third country after Thailand and India to require graphic health warnings covering 85 percent of pack surfaces.