BMJ 2015;350:h1814 doi: 10.1136/bmj.h1814 (Published 2 April 2015)
Page 1 of 1
News
NEWS Doctors demand apology for UK diplomat’s involvement in Pakistan tobacco meeting Zosia Kmietowicz The BMJ
Respiratory and public health specialists have said that they are “astonished” that a high ranking British diplomat based in Pakistan attended a meeting where a tobacco company tried to persuade the country’s government to repeal regulations that would require large graphic health warnings on cigarette packaging.
Pakistan’s Ministry of National Health Services announced in February that it was introducing new regulations from 31 March that required graphic images on cigarette packages to cover 85% of the packs, up from 40% previously. Newspapers in Islamabad reported that a meeting on 13 March attended by Philip Barton, British high commissioner for Pakistan, resulted in ministers constituting a committee to review the regulations. The meeting was called by British American Tobacco and involved Ishaq Dar, finance minister, and Saira Afzal Tarar, minister of state for national health services regulation and coordination. Although the government said that it would stand by its regulations, Barton’s presence at the meeting has been condemned. Nicholas S Hopkinson, chair of the British Thoracic Society’s specialist advisory group on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, was first author of a letter to The BMJ that described Barton’s attendance as “a flagrant breach of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to which the UK is a signatory.”1
Other signatories to the letter were Martin McKee, professor of European Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; John Britton, professor of epidemiology and director of the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies; and John Moxham, professor of respiratory medicine at King’s College, London. The letter concluded, “It is morally incoherent to advance tobacco control at home but oppose measures in other countries intended to reduce the burden of this lethal habit—based on current predictions tobacco is expected to kill 1 billion people in the 21st century. We demand an immediate public apology for this shameful behaviour and a clear undertaking that it will not be allowed to occur in the future.”
For personal use only: See rights and reprints http://www.bmj.com/permissions
A spokesman from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office commented, “The high commissioner understood the meeting would cover only issues related to the business environment in Pakistan and therefore within the bounds of HMG [Her Majesty’s government] guidance.
“At no point did the high commissioner lobby the government of Pakistan on the issue of health warnings. He made clear that he was not at the meeting to do so.” Meanwhile, in India, the head of the parliamentary panel that sought to defer the country’s introduction of large picture warnings on cigarette packaging reportedly said that all of the studies that have linked smoking to cancer had come from abroad and that no research had taken account of the “Indian aspect.”
Dilip Gandhi, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party from Maharashtra and head of a panel reviewing tobacco legislation, urged the government to postpone the introduction of pictorial warnings on tobacco products in India that would cover 85% of the packet. The policy was due to come into force on 31 March. Gandhi was quoted in the Times of India as saying, “All agree on the harmful effects of tobacco. But there is no Indian survey report to prove that tobacco consumption leads to cancer. All the studies are done abroad.
“Cancer does not happen only because of tobacco. We have to study the Indian context, as four crore [40 million] people in states like Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh are dependent on bidi-making through Tendupatta [collection of the leaves that are wrapped around tobacco to make bidi cigarettes].”2 1 2
Hopkinson NS, McKee M, Britton J, Moxham J. UK government must apologise for assisting tobacco industry lobbying in Pakistan.Letter to The BMJ posted as a rapid response. 2 April 2015# Times of India. No Indian study says tobacco causes cancer: parliamentary panel head. 31 March 2015. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/No-Indian-study-says-tobaccocauses-cancer-Parliamentary-panel-head/articleshow/46752659.cms#.
Cite this as: BMJ 2015;350:h1814 © BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 2015
Subscribe: http://www.bmj.com/subscribe
Page 1 of 1
News
NEWS Doctors demand apology for UK diplomat’s involvement in Pakistan tobacco meeting Zosia Kmietowicz The BMJ
Respiratory and public health specialists have said that they are “astonished” that a high ranking British diplomat based in Pakistan attended a meeting where a tobacco company tried to persuade the country’s government to repeal regulations that would require large graphic health warnings on cigarette packaging.
Pakistan’s Ministry of National Health Services announced in February that it was introducing new regulations from 31 March that required graphic images on cigarette packages to cover 85% of the packs, up from 40% previously. Newspapers in Islamabad reported that a meeting on 13 March attended by Philip Barton, British high commissioner for Pakistan, resulted in ministers constituting a committee to review the regulations. The meeting was called by British American Tobacco and involved Ishaq Dar, finance minister, and Saira Afzal Tarar, minister of state for national health services regulation and coordination. Although the government said that it would stand by its regulations, Barton’s presence at the meeting has been condemned. Nicholas S Hopkinson, chair of the British Thoracic Society’s specialist advisory group on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, was first author of a letter to The BMJ that described Barton’s attendance as “a flagrant breach of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to which the UK is a signatory.”1
Other signatories to the letter were Martin McKee, professor of European Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; John Britton, professor of epidemiology and director of the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies; and John Moxham, professor of respiratory medicine at King’s College, London. The letter concluded, “It is morally incoherent to advance tobacco control at home but oppose measures in other countries intended to reduce the burden of this lethal habit—based on current predictions tobacco is expected to kill 1 billion people in the 21st century. We demand an immediate public apology for this shameful behaviour and a clear undertaking that it will not be allowed to occur in the future.”
For personal use only: See rights and reprints http://www.bmj.com/permissions
A spokesman from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office commented, “The high commissioner understood the meeting would cover only issues related to the business environment in Pakistan and therefore within the bounds of HMG [Her Majesty’s government] guidance.
“At no point did the high commissioner lobby the government of Pakistan on the issue of health warnings. He made clear that he was not at the meeting to do so.” Meanwhile, in India, the head of the parliamentary panel that sought to defer the country’s introduction of large picture warnings on cigarette packaging reportedly said that all of the studies that have linked smoking to cancer had come from abroad and that no research had taken account of the “Indian aspect.”
Dilip Gandhi, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party from Maharashtra and head of a panel reviewing tobacco legislation, urged the government to postpone the introduction of pictorial warnings on tobacco products in India that would cover 85% of the packet. The policy was due to come into force on 31 March. Gandhi was quoted in the Times of India as saying, “All agree on the harmful effects of tobacco. But there is no Indian survey report to prove that tobacco consumption leads to cancer. All the studies are done abroad.
“Cancer does not happen only because of tobacco. We have to study the Indian context, as four crore [40 million] people in states like Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh are dependent on bidi-making through Tendupatta [collection of the leaves that are wrapped around tobacco to make bidi cigarettes].”2 1 2
Hopkinson NS, McKee M, Britton J, Moxham J. UK government must apologise for assisting tobacco industry lobbying in Pakistan.Letter to The BMJ posted as a rapid response. 2 April 2015# Times of India. No Indian study says tobacco causes cancer: parliamentary panel head. 31 March 2015. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/No-Indian-study-says-tobaccocauses-cancer-Parliamentary-panel-head/articleshow/46752659.cms#.
Cite this as: BMJ 2015;350:h1814 © BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 2015
Subscribe: http://www.bmj.com/subscribe
