It is important that the recent US landmark tobacco industry settlement be studied fully by anti-tobacco groups in Pakistan with expert advice sought from lawyers who specialize in product liability litigation. One wonders whether US and Pakistani tobacco companies can be taken to courts in their respective countries for damage to the health of Pakistanis. A national coalition of groups fighting tobacco should be formed to produced a coordinated educational and legal offensive against the tobacco lobby. In this the government needs to be persuaded about the overall harm cigarettes cause which in the end exceeds greatly the revenue generated by this industry. The first step could be to begin reducing the power of the government's Tobacco Board that provides support for tobacco industry, and was presumably created with support from large tobacco companies.
Tobacco is the crop that been provided such preferential treatment by the government.
This despite several letters to PIA's management and to the press that drew attention to the dangers of secondary smoke. No one took note until Mr Nawaz Sharif declared a smoking ban on domestic flights. After initial defiance by the air-travelling influentials, it has come to be accepted. The PML government should now look at other areas where tobacco is causing serious damage to human health and to move legislation to reduce it. It could start noting that the tax it collects from tobacco companies and product sales isn't adequate compensation for the enormous health damage caused by the product.