Each year, World No Tobacco Day reminds us of the heavy cost humanity pays for the tobacco industry’s relentless pursuit of profit. This year, the theme strikes at the heart of the issue: how Big Tobacco is deliberately designing products to addict a new generation. With over 37 million children aged 13-15 using tobacco globally, the evidence is crystal clear – the industry isn’t slowing down. It’s getting smarter, more manipulative, and more dangerous.
Tobacco kills up to half of its users. That’s a fact. And yet, for the industry, this isn’t a crisis – it’s a business model. Every smoker who dies is simply replaced by a new user. And who are these new users? Children. Teenagers. Those just beginning to understand the world, now being preyed upon by the most powerful marketing machine in the world.
Today’s products aren’t just cigarettes. They’re slim, colorful e-cigarettes and vapes with candy flavors like bubblegum, mango, and cola. They come in flashy packaging designed to blend seamlessly with cosmetics or tech gadgets. Social media influencers – some unknowingly – promote them to millions of followers. These aren’t accidents. They’re deliberate, calculated moves to make smoking “cool” again, especially among the youth.
In Pakistan, this trend is deeply alarming. Despite national laws and global commitments to control tobacco use, our young population is being targeted. The Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-Smokers’ Health Ordinance 2002, along with the 28 S.R.Os, issued by the Ministry of National Health Services, are vital tools – but enforcement remains weak. More troubling is the fact that Pakistan ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in 2005, pledging to protect public health, yet the tobacco industry continues to thrive under the radar, adapting faster than our policies and responses.
Make no mistake – this is not just a health issue. It’s a moral one. Are we willing to stand by while corporations target our children for addiction? Are we comfortable letting flavored nicotine products are to be sold near schools? Are we going to ignore the evidence until more children are hooked and more families suffer?
The urgency is real. Tobacco-related diseases place an immense burden on our already strained healthcare system and economy. But more importantly, they rob our future – the very youth who could be doctors, engineers, artists, or leaders – by cutting their lives short or chaining them to addiction.
On this World No Tobacco Day, let’s make a collective call: Stop marketing death to children. It’s time for a nationwide crackdown on flavored tobacco and e-cigarettes, stricter regulations on youth advertising, and most importantly, widespread public education campaigns that expose the tobacco industry’s tactics.
We must act – not tomorrow, not next year – but now. Because every child who picks up a vape today could become a lifelong customer. Or a future statistic. The choice is ours.
