ISLAMABAD: Tobacco is one of the five main leading causes of the outbreak and prevalence of non-communicable diseases and the country spends around Rs140 billion on tobacco-related diseases every year, Malik Imran of Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids told a media workshop on Wednesday.

Titled `Tobacco Consumption Trends and Civil Society`s Demands from the Government`, the workshop was organised by the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (Sparc).

Mr Imran also discussed some tobacco consumption trends in Pakistan including cigarettes, chewing tobacco, pan, biri, betel leaves, betel nuts, snuff, snus and e-cigarettes.

He said preventative measures including the imposition of excise in the form of sin tax can help eradicate the spread of the tobacco epidemic in the country.

He said the health minister had claimed that a sin tax or health levy will be imposed on tobacco products. However, he said, there has been a minor increase in taxes on tobacco products in the recent financial bill.

Sparc Executive Director Sajjad Ahmed Cheema said the increase in the price of the dollar has had an effect on the prices of many consumer goods, but the prices of tobacco products are still the same, which makes them affordable for minors.

He called for the imposition of heavy taxes on the tobacco industry in order to save the younger generation.

Other participants also demanded the government implement crucial measures including regularly increasing excise tax to account for inflation and income growth in order to reduce cigarette affordability, harmonising all taxes across tobacco products and fully implementing the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Tobacco Trade, particularly the measures for supply chain control, such as license tracking and record keeping and aligning the protocol with legislation on prosecutions and sanctions for tax evasion.