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| Immediate implementation of anti-smoking laws demanded |
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Sunday, May 31, 2009
Tauseef-ur-Rahman
PESHAWAR: Speakers at a symposium Saturday urged the government to enforce the anti-smoking laws in letter and spirit in order to protect people from the tobacco-related diseases.
The symposium was orgainsed by the NWFP chapter of the Pakistan Chest Society (PCS) at Lady Reading Hospital in connection with the ‘World No Tobacco Day’ being observed across the globe today (Sunday) to highlight the hazards of smoking.
Speaking on the occasion, Health Services Director Dr Fazle Qayyum, who is also the focal person for the tobacco control in the NWFP, said that presently around 2.2 million people in the country were smoking tobacco in various forms, while 1,200 new persons of the age 6-15 start smoking in Pakistan, which, he termed, an alarming trend.
He said they had to cut the tobacco demand by increasing awareness about the ill-effects of its use and impose heavy taxes on cigarette manufacturing companies. “Promotion of tobacco is promotion of diseases which is a violation of basic human rights,” he added.
Dr Abdul Ghafoor, provincial president of PCS, said that all the segments of the society should join hands to address ever-worsening challenge of tobacco use.
He said that a multi-sectoral, integrated and coordinated approach should be adopted to save the young generation from the onslaught of tobacco industry’s advertisement campaign.
Dr Ghafoor said five million people annually die of tobacco-related diseases across the globe, adding that 80 per cent of the deaths were from developing countries. He said due to increasing awareness against smoking in developed countries, the cigarette manufacturers shifted their focus on developing countries due to lack of awareness and their vulnerability to this deadly disease.
He said that smokers had an increased risk of having active TB and people who have a smoking history and live in an area where TB was prevalent were more prone to the disease than those who never smoked.
Professor Dr Muhammad Yousaf said that secondhand smoking had also severe effects on human beings. He said that to be in a smoky office for two hours amounted to inhaling four cigarettes by a non-smoker while two hours in a non-smoking section of a restaurant is equal to two cigarettes for non-smokers.
Dr Sher Muhammad, chairman of the Anti-Smoking Society highlighted the dangers of smoking and said that one cigarette reduced 11 minutes of a smoker’s life.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
