KARACHI: Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) on Thursday said tobacco use contributed to more than 10 per cent of all heart disease deaths.

On World No Tobacco Day, PMA secretary general Dr S.M. Qaisar Sajjad said in a policy statement that May 31 was being marked as World No Tobacco Day every year and this year’s theme was ‘Tobacco breaks hearts’.

“PMA takes an opportunity to create awareness and highlight the health and other risks associated with tobacco use and advocate for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption.”

The PMA official said cardiovascular diseases killed more people than any other cause of death worldwide, and more than 10pc were caused by the use of tobacco.

“PMA believes that use of tobacco in any form is hazardous to health.”

He added that use of tobacco also caused preventable diseases like bronchitis, diabetes, hypertension, atherosclerosis, lung cancer, laryngeal cancer, etc.

He said tobacco in any form should not be sold to people aged less than 18, “but we never see the implementation of this law”.

Under Smoking Prohibition Law 2002, smoking is prohibited at public places.

He demanded the sale of tobacco in any form (cigarette, chhalia, gutka, etc) should be banned.

Large pictorial warning on cigarette packs demanded

Highlighting the hazards of tobacco use which kills around 165,000 people in Pakistan every year, health experts at a meeting held at the Aga Khan University (AKU) on Thursday expressed serious concern over the government’s delay in introducing large-sized pictorial health warnings on cigarette packs.

The meeting was held in connection with World No Tobacco Day.

According to speakers, the day is a stark reminder that the country lags far behind the rest of the world in tobacco-control efforts.

They referred to experiences in other countries which opted for enlarging the size of health warnings on cigarette packs that discouraged tobacco use and helped reduce burden of tobacco-related morbidity and mortality.

“Increased taxation on tobacco products and a comprehensive ban on smoking in public places can significantly help in controlling tobacco epidemic in the country,” Dr Javaid Khan, chair of the National Alliance for Tobacco Control (NATC) and senior professor at the AKU department of medicine, said.

Tobacco with betel nuts

Prof Ali Zubairi, a pulmonologist at AKUH, said that though smoking was legally prohibited in offices, restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities and on public transportation in Pakistan, one could see that people were free to do it.

“Tobacco used with betel nuts is the major reason for rising cases of head, mouth and neck cancer in Pakistan,” he said.

Dr Muhammad Irfan of Pakistan Chest Society said that tobacco had dangerous repercussions on health.

“Besides, a colossal share of foreign exchange is consumed in importing exorbitantly priced medicines required to treat diseases caused by tobacco.”

‘Tobacco kills 7m people every year’

During the course of discussion, some data on hazards of tobacco use was also shared according to which tobacco killed seven million people across the world every year.

Approximately 50pc of smokers died prematurely, on an average 14 years earlier than non-smokers.

Tobacco use was the foremost cause of deaths from cardiovascular diseases, which killed more people than any other disease, according to the WHO.

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2018