A coalition of public health and tobacco control organisations met in Islamabad to press the government for stronger fiscal and regulatory action on tobacco and nicotine products. The Alliance for Tobacco and Nicotine Control (ATNiC) brought together experts from SPDC, Heartfile, Association for Better Pakistan, SAMAR, Blue Veins, SDPI and PANAH to examine the rapid rise of new tobacco and nicotine products and propose urgent reforms.<\/p>\n
Participants warned that Heated Tobacco Products, Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems, oral nicotine pouches and other novel products are being marketed to young people across Pakistan. Experts said comprehensive regulation of these products must accompany any move to adjust excise policy so that tobacco taxes drive down consumption rather than merely shift product mix.<\/p>\n
Asif Iqbal<\/strong> of SPDC noted that cigarettes in Pakistan remain among the most affordable in the region and that the real effect of the 2023 tax increase has been eroded by inflation and rising incomes. He highlighted an immediate fiscal option: raising cigarette prices by 17.4 percent through higher taxation could yield an additional PKR 51 billion in government revenue while helping reduce smoking prevalence.<\/p>\n Dr. Saba Amjad<\/strong>, CEO of Heartfile, reminded attendees that tobacco imposes an estimated annual economic burden of PKR 615 billion through healthcare costs and lost productivity. She and others criticised the current two-tier excise system for keeping economy-brand cigarettes cheap, and argued that abolishing the two-tier structure would amplify the impact of tobacco taxes, encouraging an estimated 271,000 adults to quit and preventing roughly 369,000 young people from starting.<\/p>\n Ammar Rashid<\/strong>, Heartfile’s research lead, focused on smokeless products, saying that bringing this sector into the formal tax net could generate tens of billions of rupees in additional revenue and reduce use by up to 40 percent over five years. He urged licensing, standardised packaging rules and stronger market oversight to formalise the smokeless tobacco market and reduce health harms.<\/p>\n Sana Ullah Ghumman<\/strong> of PANAH emphasised urgent action, saying ‘Pakistan cannot afford to delay tobacco control reforms any longer. Increasing tobacco taxes and regulating all nicotine products are among the most effective measures available to protect public health, reduce healthcare costs, and discourage youth addiction.’<\/p>\n Tobacco control advocate Qamar Naseem<\/strong> of Blue Veins highlighted industry tactics such as influencer marketing, entertainment sponsorships and sleek product design that target younger consumers. Delegates called for a comprehensive regulatory framework covering all tobacco and nicotine products, stronger enforcement against illicit trade and tax evasion, safeguards to keep health policy free from industry interference, and expanded public awareness campaigns to prevent youth initiation.<\/p>\n The coalition urged the Government of Pakistan to adopt evidence-based policies that use tobacco taxes and regulation together to protect a generation from nicotine addiction, improve public health outcomes and strengthen fiscal stability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Experts call for higher tobacco taxes and stricter nicotine regulation to curb youth use, improve health and raise PKR 51 billion in revenue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":19472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}