Say no to tobacco: Smoking is a licence to kill

Students of Khyber Girls Medical College present posters on hazards of smoking.

PESHAWAR:

Despite worldwide awareness campaign about negative health effects of smoking, more than one billion people in the world and approximately 20 per cent of women in Pakistan are engaged in this hazardous activity. This was stated by medical students at a ceremony held at Khyber Girls Medical College (KGMC) on Monday.

The KGMC students in collaboration with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Health Foundation (KPHF), organised a programme in connection with World No Tobacco Day which was celebrated all over the world on May 31. KPHF Managing Director Dr Umar Ayub attended the event as the chief guest.

Addressing the students, Dr Ayub explained the hazards of smoking. He said even though shisha smoking was banned in Sindh, people in other provinces had open access to it.

The students appreciated the government’s decision of increasing sales tax on cigarettes and urged the government to take practical steps to control the use of tobacco. They also gave presentations on the occasion highlighting the risks of smoking. They demanded an increase in awareness programmes in the country to curb this menace.

Tauseef Aman, the chief organiser of the event, told The Express Tribune that the programme aimed at creating awareness about the potential risks of use of tobacco. Mena Gul, a student of KGMC, said the use of tobacco in the form of cigarettes, pipe smoking and shisha smoking is extremely dangerous which severely affects the respiratory system. It also causes mouth cancer, impotency and increased risk of stroke. She added that 17,000 children are admitted to hospitals every year due to passive smoking only. Memoona Jabeen, another student, termed smoking as a “licence to death” and said the number of smokers in the province was growing at an alarming rate, adding that the phenomenon was increasingly common among youth.

She said the main reason behind this rising trend is due to lack of regulation of under age smoking and easy availability of cigarettes in the province. She further said smoking was the main cause behind oral cavity cancer, lung cancer, heart attack and other deadly diseases.

Lubna Khan, another student of KGMC held the media responsible for promoting smoking among the younger generation. She said the health warning at the end of television commercials was not enough to fulfil social responsibilities and the media and other advertising agencies should take effective steps to increase awareness about dangers of smoking in the country.



Published in The Express Tribune, June 14th, 2011.