KARACHI, Feb 1: Tobacco companies of the country are coming up with novel ways of combating effects of the restrictions imposed in connection with their advertisements, said a senior doctor on Saturday.

Speaking to Dawn after the second annual meeting of the Pakistan Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, Dr Mehmood Hyder of the Karachi Medical and Dental College said the anti-tobacco campaigners had managed to force the tobacco companies into a corner vis-a-vis advertisements.

“But the tobacco firms are coming up with new ways to get round the problem. They are sponsoring songs and events which are sponsored by certain tobacco and gutka manufactures,” he said.

The children and teenagers were being exposed to these events regularly, Dr Hyder said. It was ironic that some tobacco firms were sponsoring international sports events, he added.

The keynote speaker of the event, Dr Rehana Mehr of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, said the wide use of tobacco fuelled the incidence of oral submucous fibrosis (OSF).

OSF was without any doubt the most widespread pre-cancer afflicting the Pakistanis, she said. Similarly, mouth cancers were a cause for serious concern.

Dr Hyder said tobacco-related diseases weren’t confined to those areas where people widely consumed paan. “In the NWFP and Balochistan naswar is consumed widely. So, these diseases are a burden for all areas of the country.”

Dr Rehana was of the view that the common people should be aware that tobacco was a harmful substance. “So creating awareness is the first step in our battle against use of tobacco.”

The second step was the early detection of OSF and mouth cancers, she said.

Meanwhile, eight scientific papers were presented at the meeting. The specialists who presented the papers were: Dr Junaid Lakhani, Dr Humayun Siddiqui, Dr Murtaza Kazmi, Dr Zahid Ali, Dr Ambrina, Dr Tauqeer, Dr Tahir Ali and Dr Rehana Mehr.