MULTAN: Fight against tobacco is a fight against cancer, but in this fight there are obstacles, which are the cultivators and users of tobacco.

This was stated by Cancer Society Multan President Dr Professor Abrar Ahmad Javed while addressing a press conference in connection with the World No Tobacco Day to be observed on Saturday (today).

He said cultivation and promotion of tobacco should be banned with compensation to cultivators through alternative crops. It is also pertinent for the government to enact strong legislation to curtail tobacco use.

“It causes 3.5 million premature deaths worldwide. By 2030, it is estimated tobacco use will be the leading cause of death worldwide with roughly 10 million deaths per year. In spite of these gloomy statistics the silver lining is that it is also the single most preventable cause of death,” he added. “Of 1.1 billion smokers in the world, 70-80pc live in developing countries like Pakistan.”

He further said passive smoking posed a major risk of asthma among children and lung cancer and premature babies among adults.

Prof Dr Ijaz Ahmad Masood said in Pakistan tobacco-related cancers were very common as they constituted 45pc of all cancers. Tobacco cessation could save lives of around 75,000 people a year.

“Sadly in Pakistan, public and private sector are largely ignorant of the hazards of tobacco use,” he added. The amount of nicotine absorbed from smokeless tobacco was three to four times higher than that inhaled from a cigarette.

Dr Masood said important steps to control tobacco use included government devising a clear policy to ban cultivation and promotion of tobacco and import of tobacco products used in paan, gutka, pan masala, naswar and beera. Mass awareness campaigns were required for the public, patients and physicians about hazards of tobacco use besides education and awareness for health workers, including doctors, nurses and paramedics.

Development of social climate in which smoking was unacceptable would discourage smokers and tobacco users, protection of right of non-smokers to be free from passive smoking, ban on smoking in public places, increased prices and taxation on cigarettes, sale restriction (minimum age 18-21 years) and inclusion of smokeless tobacco in the Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-smoker Health Ordinance 2002 were some of the other suggestions for the government.

Published in Dawn, May 31th, 2014