PESHAWAR, May 12: The ordinances, calling for a ban on tobacco advertisements on electronic and print media and asking cigarette manufacturers to print warnings regarding the hazards of smoking on packets more prominently, would come into force on May 31, the day being observed as the World No-Tobacco Day.

This was stated by Abdul Sattar Chaudhry, WHO’s technical officer, at a two-day workshop organized by the health department in collaboration with WHO at a local hotel here on Monday to educate the representatives of the NGOs and CBOs on the ill-affects of smoking.

The workshop entitled “Tobacco Free Initiative (TFI): Promotion of Healthy Lifestyle”, would continue for two days.

Both the ordinances, he said, had been approved by the cabinet on Oct 15, 2002, despite stiff opposition from half of the cabinet members, but President Musharraf, who presided over the meeting, went ahead to approve the ordinances aimed at banning the tobacco advertisements, its sale to the youths below 18 years of age and curtailment of the unethical promotional tactics by the manufacturers to capture markets for their products.

Cigarettes-manufacturers, sponsored sports events where they showed tobacco as performance-enhancing substance and also glamour by showing pretty girl models.

Two committees, one each for laying down guidelines for printing of warnings on cigarette packets and the other, had been tasked to devise ways and means about its implementation were working on the ordinances to be implemented on May 31.

Mr Chaudhry, said that smoking and non-smoking zones at the public places would be designated and those found violating the law, would be dealt with accordingly. It has been planned that heads of the educational institutions would report to the law enforcers, if they found retailers selling tobacco or its products in the 50 meter radius of their institutions.

According to WHO’s guidelines, physical, mental, social, and spiritual finesses were pre-requisites for a healthy lifestyle, which was possible by provision of entertainment facilities and doing away with the use of narcotics. The UN’s health agency has urged its member countries to launch effective smoking control programmes by banning its advertisements, its sale to youths and prohibition of smoking in public places to save the passive smokers from its bad affects.

Dr Fayaz Ali, deputy director health department and focal person for TFI, NWFP, said use of tobacco was the mother of all narcotics, because the people started it first and later fell victims to hashish, heroin etc. He said that 90 per cent of the lung cancer, 75 per cent bronchitis and 24 per cent of the deaths caused by heart diseases were caused by tobacco.

Dr Ghulam Subkhani, deputy director, reproductive health, NWFP, informed that children were the worst sufferers of smoking and the parents should avoid smoking near their children and also not allow others to use tobacco near the children. This, he said would facilitate the children to inhale in clean and neat environs and save them from numerous ailments.

Dr Shabeena Raza of the reproductive health department, NWFP, was of the view that four million people died of smoking worldwide every year and if brakes were not applied, it would be killing 10 million people by the year 2030. At present, the number of tobacco-users was 1.2 billion which would reach 1.6 billion by the year 2030.

Earlier, the NWFP Health Minister, Inayatullah Khan, urged the NGOs, CBOs and media-persons to play their part regarding the awareness against the use of tobacco. Director-General, Health Department, Brigadier Dr Habibur Rehman, said that he had already banned smoking in the directorate of health.