LAHORE -UNS: A petition to stop the sale of cigarettes and vapes to people under the age of 18 was filed in the Lahore High Court by Barrister Ahmad Pansuta and Shiza Qureshi Advocate. It was stated in the petition that under the Smoking Ordinance, cigarettes and vapes cannot be sold to persons under the age of 18 years, but the government is failing to implement the Ordinance. The petitioner requested the court to compel the federal and provincial governments to take concrete steps to stop the sale of cigarettes, vapes and other novel products to the minors.
Justice Asim Hafeez heard the request to stop the sale of cigarettes and vapes to minors. The court issued notices to the federal and the Punjab government, while the court also directed other relevant stakeholders to be partied in the petition.
Over 170 thousand people die every year due to smoking in Pakistan, while 12 percent of youth above fifteen years of age are addicted to smoking. The young generation has now been exposed to the novel tobacco containing nicotine and toxic chemicals, and the use of electronic cigarettes, heated tobacco and nicotine pouch products has become common. Dangerous diseases have started to arise from the nicotine and toxic chemicals.
Executive Director SSDO, Syed Kausar Abbas welcomed the writ petition by young lawyer Shiza Qureshi and said that strict measures are needed to be taken to protect the youth from smoking and we also need to protect them from the dangers of new novel tobacco products. Along with creating awareness, strong legislation is required to ban the manufacture, sale and advertisement of novel products and also implementation should be ensured.
The Government needs to make legislation to impose strict ban on the sale of Novel Products in Pakistan. This is linked with the health of our future generations and we need to deal this issue to save the future of our children. The judiciary should also take proactive measures to take suo moto notice on the such kind of public health issues, Abbas demanded.
