PESHAWAR, June 5: Doctors have urged the government to implement environmental laws in letter and spirit to protect industrial workers from different forms of cancer.

"We receive about 200 factory workers who frequently come into contact with asbestos, causing them mesthiloma (cancer). It is ... taking heavy toll on the lives of under-paid labourers in the Northern districts of the province," said Prof Dr Arshad Javaid president of the Pakistan Chest Society.

He was speaking at a function organized here on Saturday to observe the World Environment Day. The function was jointly organized by the Postgraduate Medical Institute, Abaseen Foundation, PCS and Environmental Protection Agency at the Peshawar Press Club.

"About 90 per cent of the cancer patients come from Swat, Mardan, North and South Waziristan, Malakand, Khyber, Mohmand and Bajaur agencies. The main cause of their ailment can be traced to their persistent exposure to asbestos (a cancer-causing agent) in stone-crushing factories (in the Northern parts of the province and the Fata)," he said.

He said that asbestos was also used as an ingredient in talcum powder, adding that it was responsible for causing cancer in another 10 per cent to 15 per cent of the patients.

Stressing the need for revising environmental protection laws, he said emphasis should be laid on regulating the use of asbestos in the NWFP, adding that its mining should only be allowed under special licenses.

Dr Arshad, who is the dean of the PGMI, said that a law should be enacted compelling employers to compensate the workers of these industries affected by cancer.

Director-general of the Environmental Protection Agency Dr Mohammad Bashir blamed lack of public awareness for the increase in pollution.

He was of the view that the problem could be solved by increasing the coordination among different organizations and the people, adding that there was an urgent need to save natural resources from being contaminated.

Dr Mukhtiar Zaman Afridi, a chest specialist at the Khyber Teaching Hospital, who screened a film showing labourers working in coal mines, said that they (workers) received a wage amounting to less than Rs50 for 12-hour work without any protection, which terribly affected their lungs and chests.

These workers, he said, were being exploited by factory- owners despite earning handsome benefit at the cost of their hard work.

"About 102 tons of coal is burnt in brick-kiln in Peshawar on a daily basis, producing carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide, causing mine workers health hazards", he said.

Quoting from a five-year survey report, he said that it was found that lungs of brick-kiln workers were seven times weaker than any other group of people. Similarly, blood pressure of shopkeepers and traffic policemen was found to be three times more than others because of stress and their vulnerability to environmental pollution.

NWFP Secretary for Forest and Environment Noorul Haq highlighted the importance of creating public awareness about various forms of pollutions, saying that the government and NGOs should make efforts in this regard.

The government, he said, had allocated Rs22million in this regard, adding that a number of measures were being taken to provide a clean environment to the people. He said that 33 cases regarding pollution were being heard by environmental tribunals.

The EPA had established its offices in Malakand, Hazara and Dera Ismail Khan to cope with environment-related problems and issue guidelines to the people aiming at improving the environmental situation.