KARACHI: Demand for enforcement of law against smoking: World No-Tobacco Day
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, May 31: Speakers at seminars and meetings on ‘World No-Tobacco Day’ observed on Thursday said that tobacco even in small doses was harmful and there was a need to motivate public against its consumption.
They also expressed concern over the increase in the trend of smoking among adolescents and women and clarified that tobacco was wrongly related to heroism, body strength, creativity and smartness.
Speakers at a seminar organised by the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) demanded for strict enforcement of the Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-smoker Ordinance, 2002. They said that smoking was the single largest preventable cause of deaths in Pakistan.
Some details from the US Surgeon General’s report were also referred to during the seminar. According to the report, the environmental tobacco smoke had been found to cause premature death and disease in children and non-smoking adults.
Prof Dr Javaid Khan, head of AKUH pulmonary section and also president of Pakistan Chest Society, Sindh, said that some of the multinational tobacco firms were openly flouting the Pakistani ordinance on smoking in defiance of Supreme Court’s directives and used “all possible means to make the Pakistani public addicted to tobacco”.
Dr Khan said that smoking caused over 90 per cent chronic obstructive lung disease cases, whose treatment was very difficult, with most patients ending up with respiratory failure.
Dr Nadeem Rizvi, head of chest diseases department at the JPMC, said that as a result of aggressive marketing, “an estimated 1,500 children were taking up smoking everyday, in Pakistan.”
He urged pro-active measures by city governments in terms of removing tobacco-related signboards from shops and for a youth education campaign in educational institutions and called for a sponsorship ban on sporting and other events.
Dr Suleman Haque of the AKUH dismissed the notion of countering stress through smoking.
A surgeon at the AKUH, Dr Shehzad Ghaffar, reported on tobacco use in the form of ‘gutka’ and ‘pan masala’ and warned that there was an increasing trend amongst children. He said that Pakistan currently topped the list in the incidence of oral cancer.
Senior nurse at the AKUH, Humaira Waheed, suggested making all public places and public transport smoke-free by strict enforcement of the Anti-tobacco Ordinance. A scholar, Engineer Naveed Ahmad, reiterated scientific confirmation on the serious harm to passive smokers through release of toxins from smoking.
Dr Aamir Hameed said that sheer will-power, modern medication and counselling could enable most patients to kick the habit of smoking altogether. A video demonstrated that tobacco was the first step towards other addictions and must be controlled at all costs.
Meanwhile, Dr Abdul Wahid Bhurt, WHO Operation Officer in Sindh, in a communication said that World No-Tobacco Day was observed annually on May 31 to highlight hazardous effects of tobacco smoking and to remind and help colleagues around the world for taking effective legislative and executive measures against it in order to safeguard health and happiness.
“There is no safe level of exposure of tobacco smoking. Active smokers as well as passive smokers (apparently non-smokers) are becoming victims of dangerous diseases of lung, including cancer, tuberculosis, heart and others, including obesity, diabetes, liver and GIT diseases.
“In addition to it, we are wasting millions and billions of rupees on purchase of tobacco products and minimising already limited resources that can be better utilised for improving health, education and other aspects of life”, he added.
Referring to the theme of this year, ‘smoke-free environment’; a senior doctor at the Civil Hospital Karachi said that policy makers and the public should be informed about the adverse effects of exposures to second hand smoking.
He also laid emphasis on a consistent communication campaign about health rights and elimination of tobacco smoke, a toxin air contaminant.
Finding no significant development against tobacco on ground, the Pakistan Medical Association, Karachi, said that the prohibition of smoking ordinance could not be implemented so far in true sense due to lack of interest on the part of government functionaries.
More than 100,000 people died every year in the country only due to cigarette smoking. They suffer from carcinoma of oral cavity, tongue, lungs, larynx, blood pressure, heart diseases, oesophagus, stomach, pancreas, kidney etc, the association added in a statement.
It also referred to Sheesha smoking offered in different restaurants and demanded a ban on this bad habit. The PMA also appealed to the general public to make their homes and offices smoke free.
A survey aimed at knowing the attitude of Karachi-based medical students towards smoking revealed that incidence of smoking was greater among male students (17 per cent) than females (4 per cent). The average age of initiation of smoking was 17 years and the major influence was friends.
