I THINK it is important for our youth to stop smoking.

Holding a cigarette in your hand among a group is considered cool and easy to make friends but it has long lasting health issues.

In South Asia, where smoking is still allowed indoors, it is one of the biggest causes of death and illnesses such as mouth and lung cancer.

Smoking also increases your risk of developing more than 50 serious health conditions. Some may be fatal, and others can cause irreversible long-term damage to your health.

You can become ill: if you smoke yourself or if people around you smoke (passive smoking).

Smoking also damages the heart and blood circulation, increasing the risk of developing conditions such as coronary heart diseases, stroke, peripheral vascular disease (damaged blood vessels) and cerebrovascular disease (damaged arteries that supply blood to your brain)

According to the National Health Service, secondhand smoke comes from the tip of a lit cigarette and the smoke that the smoker breathes out.

Breathing in secondhand smoke, also known as passive smoking, increases your risk of getting the same health conditions as smokers.

For example, if you have never smoked but you have a spouse who smokes, your risk of developing lung cancer increases by about a quarter. Babies and children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of secondhand smoke.

I ask the government and educational institutions to look into this issue seriously.

Uzair Balochzada

Kharan, Balochistan

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2019