From: OnlineNews.com.pk
ISLAMABAD: While the theme of the world IP day this year is “Movies – A global passion”, innumerous industries are under threat from intellectual property rights (IPR) violations against them.
According to a press statement, food, tobacco and drug industries are some of the worst affectees of this heinous crime.
“If that is the case in the developed countries imagine what the counterfeit cigarettes would contain in countries like Pakistan”
The IPR violations in case of non-food items have an adverse impact on government and industry revenues. However in case of food, tobacco and drug related industries, counterfeiting can also result in far more worse consequences.
In Peshawar sometime back the DCO office raided a factory which was producing fake tea leaves through application of dangerous chemicals and supplying to different people for packaging.
Similarly there were complaints from residents in Malakand district about tea dealers who were mixing dried animal blood with tea. Tea is just one example. Food Items ranging from biscuits to candies are being counterfeited posing a huge health hazard for the consumers.
The case of tobacco is no different. It is estimated that in the $450 billion global cigarette industry about 12% of the cigarettes are illegal and include fake cigarettes. According to a report of daily mail, UK, undercover agents in UK found that fake cigarettes contained human excrement, asbestos, mould and dead flies.
In fact is has been reported that the World Customs Organization receives reports of counterfeit cigarettes seizures containing mites and unprecedented methods of concealment posing serious health risks even for law enforcement officers. If that is the case in the developed countries imagine what the counterfeit cigarettes would contain in countries like Pakistan.
