Islamabad - The Network for Consumer Protection (NCP), a nongovernmental organization (NGO), on Monday appealed from Prime Minister to take strict notice of state institutions adopting the multinationals tobacco industry’s statistics.

PM was urged to halt adoption of tobacco industry statistics because it could weaken the government’s anti-tobacco regulation.

Chief Executive of The Network, Nadeem Iqbal pointed out that instead of generating their own statistics or adopting those of government agencies, some state institutions have been adopting the multinational tobacco industry generated deceptive and forged statistics that health regulations result in loss of revenue to the government.

“These deceptive arguments are also reflected in debates in the Parliament. These multinational tobacco corporations have hired firms to develop these misguiding reports for their own benefits,” he said.

According to Nadeem Iqbal, tobacco industry’s claim that stringent health regulations results in increase in tobacco smuggling and counterfeit cigarettes has no evidence, but the fact that WHO-recommended higher taxes on tobacco raise FBR revenue and keep cigarettes away from children is a widely proven fact.

A report released recently by a state institution and published in different media outlets claimed that illicit cigarettes account for 40 per cent of the total demand in Pakistan.

The report quotes tobacco industry’s statistics, which exaggerates the nature and impact of illicit trade when arguing against proven measures to reduce tobacco use because communicating the truth about tobacco control and illicit trade does not serve its interests.

In reality, says Malik Imran Ahmed, a representative of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids USA, strong tobacco control policies like tobacco tax-increases reduce tobacco use even in the presence of illicit trade.

According to Euro Monitor International, the proportion of total cigarette sales that are illicit has actually declined over the past five years.

In 2011, 27.3 per cent of total cigarette sales were illicit, while in 2015 this had decreased to 20.6 per cent, about half as much as claimed in the report.

The volume of illicit cigarettes sold has also decreased annually since 2011, from 23.6 billion sticks that year to 15.5 billion in 2015, he added.

On the other hand, legal cigarette sales have indeed decreased annually. Euro Monitor International reports 59.8 billion sticks sold in 2015, down from 62.9 billion in 2011.

This reduction in cigarette consumption is a success for tobacco control and public health policies, not due to increase in illicit trade which has been falling over the years.

The said report also claimed that federal excise duty paid on cigarette sales has declined in the first quarter of Pakistan’s fiscal year (June 1-Aug 31, 2016).

The demand for tobacco products is inelastic which means that the proportionate reduction in demand for tobacco is smaller than the proportionate size of tax increase.

Every nation and sub-national entity with an efficient tax system that has significantly increased its cigarette tax has enjoyed substantial increases in revenue even while reducing tobacco use.