KARACHI, March 30: Fatima Surraiya Bajia, the adviser to chief minister, has appealed for an absolute ban on gutka, betel nuts, sweetened supari and other relevant products contributory to high incidence of oral cancers across the country.

The adviser was responding to the complaints made by local mothers regarding a wide range of health related problems among their children due to frequent consumption of pan masala, gutka and other bi-products of betel nut, at an awareness programme held by Sada Foundation at the NICH on Wednesday.

The mothers with their children being treated at the NICH were also extremely concerned about the easy availability of other junk food around the school premises which were not only hazardous for child health but also aggravated already poor nutritious status of kids enhancing their vulnerability to wide range of infections.

In the backdrop of the fact that use of these products not only is a major cause of diarrhoea, throat infections besides root cause of oncological conditions among adolescents in habits of consuming products made by betel nut with chemical connotation from their childhood, the participants urged the government to impose restriction on sale of such items besides other edibles containing chemicals and colours.—APP