KARACHI, Oct 20: Despite a ban imposed by the Sindh government on the production and sale of gutka on Oct 4, more than 120 brands of gutka, one of the major causes of oral cancer, are being sold throughout the metropolis.

A survey conducted at different hospitals in the city, revealed that of the hundreds of patients found suffering from sub-mucous fibrosis, a pre-cancerous stage; more than one-third were below the age of 18 years.

Almost 80 per cent of the oral cancerous lesions identified among people of the sub-continent, can be attributed to the growing consumption of gutka, betel-nuts and its bi-products.

The single most important risk factor for oral cancer is the increasing use of paan and gutka. In recent years, paan masala and gutka consumption has also increased in Pakistan.

Globally oral cancers accounted for three per cent of all cancer cases but for Pakistan this number is as high as 40 per cent. The last decade or so has seen the introduction of more than 100 brands of betel substitutes in the form of sweet supari, gutka and paan masala. Another harm caused by use of gutka is ankylosis (jaw problem). The condition is said to be increasingly witnessed among children and youth.

According to a research conducted by the Aga Khan University in Karachi, 70 per cent of primary schoolchildren chew betel nut and 25 per cent of them consume betel leaf on a daily basis. —PPI