Daily Times

Pakistan’s performance in preventing the influence of multinational tobacco manufacturing companies has been found unsatisfactory, resulting in the deaths of above one hundred and sixty thousand people in the country annually, a global study reveals. The Good Governance in Tobacco Control (GGTC), an international watchdog on tobacco control, in its latest finding of 2023 has included Pakistan in an index where the tobacco industry heavily influences the governments. The international watchdog in its findings termed the performance of Pakistan in adopting measures to prevent the industry’s influence, ensuring transparency, and avoiding the conflict of interest with the multinational tobacco companies as unsatisfactory. Mentioning the names of Pakistan Tobacco Company and British American Tobacco, the GGTC said that in 2021, 163,672 deaths in Pakistan occurred primarily by these two top producers of tobacco.