“Smoking and other means of tobacco consumption kill more people annually than alcohol, Aids, accidents, illegal drugs, murders and suicides combined altogether. Tobacco was responsible for 5.4 million deaths in 2010 and this toll is expected to rise to 10 million by 2025 if the pandemic goes unchecked, they added.
Shaista Bukhari said increased taxation on tobacco products and implementation of smoking ban at public places are the two most important requirements. He claimed that over half of the country’s adult population was addicted to one or other form of tobacco.Head of Chest Diseases Department at Nishtar Medical College Prof Dr.Shaheen also deplored that despite excellent anti-smoking laws in Pakistan, the government was not serious for their implementation.He said according to their own survey, 85 percent tobacco selling outlets in the city are still selling cigarettes to minors and despite a ban on smoking at national univarsties, smoking was not barred at 95 percent of them.He said tobacco use is the most important risk factor for high blood pressure and cardiovascular mortality in Pakistan and deplored the abolition of tobacco control cell in the Federal Ministry of Health, saying it was a victory of tobacco industry in Pakistan.The experts also conducted various tests and examinations of tobacco users, smokers and non-smokers, gave health advises and prescribed medicines for them to quit the habits of smoking and tobacco chewing.
Of the 50 journalists tested by the experts, three were found to be suffering from Oral Submucous Fibrosis (OSF), a condition jaw stiffness due to the frequent use of tobacco in which the sufferer faces difficulty in opening his or her mouth wide open.Many smoking journalists’ Carbon Monoxide (CO) level was found to be above the danger level of 5 which was declared as toxic by the pulmonologists.
