Daily Times

London’s Imperial College has recently unveiled a study on smoking titled “Tobacco’s global environment footprint”. It finds that that tobacco production in under-developed countries should be a cause of concern for policy makers. Citing the study, Dr Aftab Madni, dean of the Indus University, says, “Almost 90% of all tobacco production is concentrated in the developing world”. The study reveals that out of the top 10 tobacco producing countries, 9 are developing which includes four low-income food deficit countries (LIFDCs). “Pakistan falls in the category of LIFDCs,” he said. He said that major point of concern is the fact that easy availability of cigarettes has become a cause health burden. Moreover, it’s has a deeper social implication for the poor household. He further said that members of poor household spend major chunk of their daily earnings on buying cigarettes leaving very little to spend on food and other essential items. He gave refrence of Capital Calling which has recently demanded that there is a need for the country to follow the WHO guidelines regarding tobacco taxation.