Experts demand strict implementation of laws to check growing use of tobacco

As many as 165,000 people are annually dying in Pakistan due to diseases caused by smoking and other uses of tobacco, including cardiovascular diseases and various types of cancer, experts said on Thursday on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day.

They urged the government to completely ban smoking and the availability of other tobacco products, including gutka, paan and naswar. World No Tobacco Day is marked on May 31 every year throughout the world, and seminars, conferences, symposiums and walks are organised by healthcare facilities, organisations and associations to create awareness about the lethal practice. This year the theme of the day is “Tobacco Breaks Hearts”.

The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) demanded of the government to increase the prices of cigarettes to such an extent that they went out of the reach of people, and as a result there would be a decrease in the sale of cigarettes. It added that people would try to quit smoking when the prices went very high.

“We at the PMA are very much concerned about the health of the people of Pakistan and on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day, the PMA takes an opportunity to create awareness and to highlight the health and other risks associated with tobacco use and advocates for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption,” PMA Secretary General Dr Qaiser Sajjad said while talking to journalists.

He said cardiovascular disease kills more people than any other cause of death worldwide, and tobacco use and second-hand smoke exposure contribute to approximately 12 per cent of all heart disease deaths. “Tobacco use is also the second leading cause of CVD, after high blood pressure. Despite the known harms of tobacco to heart health, and the availability of solutions to reduce related death and disease, knowledge among large sections of the public that tobacco is one of the leading causes of CVD is low.”

The Pakistan Medical Association believed that the use of tobacco in any form is hazardous for health, Dr Sajjad said, adding that according to reporters over 165,000 people died in Pakistan only due to the use of tobacco. It also causes preventable diseases like bronchitis, diabetes, hypertension, atherosclerosis, lung cancer and laryngeal cancer.

“By reducing the consumption of tobacco in the society, we can prevent these diseases. The PMA has already demanded that 80 per cent of a cigarette packet should be covered with an anti-smoking pictorial warning. But unfortunately despite the continuous announcements of the Ministry of National Health Services, the pictorial warning on cigarette packets could not be increased from 40 to 50 per cent in the last four years, whereas Ms Saira Afzal Tarar once claimed to have increased the size of the pictorial warning on cigarette packets from 40 to 85 per cent.”

He further demanded that tobacco in any form should not be sold to people under 18 years of age. He deplored that this law had never been implemented in Pakistan. Under the Smoking Prohibition Law 2002, smoking is prohibited at public places but again the law is never seen being implemented, he added.

“In the light of the above facts, the PMA demands that anti-smoking laws should be implemented in letter and spirit, sale of tobacco in any form including cigarette, chalia, gutka etc. should be banned at the canteens and tuck shops of all educational institutions and do not allow the sale of these things within two kilometers’ radius of these institutions,” the PMA secretary general demanded.

He also urged the tobacco users, including smokers, to quit the use of tobacco immediately to save themselves from the severe diseases, saying those who were addicted to tobacco could quit it easily in the month of Ramazan.

AKU event

The menace of tobacco claims over seven million lives annually, including 165,000 in Pakistan, but tobacco is still accepted as a norm in many societies including Pakistan. World No Tobacco Day is a stark reminder for all of us that we are lagging behind the rest of the world in our tobacco control efforts.

These views were expressed by health professionals at a meeting to mark World No Tobacco Day at Aga Khan University Hospital. Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) pose a grave public health concern as they kill more people than any other disease and, according to WHO, tobacco use is the foremost cause of deaths from CVDs.

Addressing the meeting of the National Alliance for Tobacco Control (NATC) at the AKU, Prof Javaid Khan, chair of the NATC, raised serious concern over the delay in introducing large-sized pictorial health warnings on the cigarette pack.

Porf Javaid Khan maintained that various countries had introduced large-sized pictorial health warnings on the cigarettes packs, and that had helped in reducing the burden of tobacco-related morbidity and mortality in those countries.

“Increased taxation on tobacco products and a comprehensive ban on smoking in public places are two other strategies which if implemented can significantly help in controlling tobacco epidemic in the country.”

Eminent pulmonologist from the AKUH Prof Ali Zubairi said that despite having laws in place in Pakistan since 2002, no serious efforts had been done in the country to implement them. Cigarettes were still being sold at a very low cost in the country and even children could purchase them easily, he said, warning that tobacco used with betel nut was the major reason for rising mouth and neck cancer in the country.

Dr Muhammad Irfan of Pakistan Chest Society said that tobacco had dangerous repercussions on the health of the public. He added that a colossal share of foreign exchange was consumed in importing exorbitantly priced medicines required to treat diseases caused by tobacco.

He urged the decision-makers to realise that we can ameliorate public health as well as save money for the country if we control the tobacco epidemic effectively by implementing tobacco control laws.

Mayor’s announcement

Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar announced that the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) office would be ‘no- smoking zones’ but deplored that despite laws and awareness activities regarding smoking, the use of tobacco was on the rise in Karachi.

He said that now a large number of women also indulged in the habit of smoking, which was a bad omen for the society. “Despite laws, tobacco products are openly being sold in the city without any restriction, which needs to be checked. Oral cancer is also on the rise due to the use of chewing tobacco while people are being lured to smoke and win motorcycles. This should come to an end,” Akhtar said while addressing a seminar held at Sobhraj Maternity Hospital.

The seminar was organised by the Health and Medical Services Department of the KMC. It was also addressed by the senior director health of the KMC, Dr Birbal Genani. After the seminar, the mayor visited the heat stroke centre at the hospital while awareness material was also distributed among people after the seminar.