LAHORE: Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre organised its annual “Anti-Tobacco Poster Competition” to create awareness among the masses to prevent the incidences which is on the rise due to smoking on the eve of World No Tobacco Day observed every year on May 31 internationally.
All major schools from all over Pakistan participated in the contest in which approximately 5000 entries were received. Chief Medical Officer of the hospital Dr. Aasim Yusuf distributed shieldsamong the winners of the competition.
Speaking at this occasion, Dr. Fatima Ajaz, Consultant Pulmonary & Intensive Care, SKMCH&RC said tobacco usage is on the rise in the Pakistani youth which is a very dangerous trend to their health.
Developed world is striving hard to educate its people about the hazards of tobacco use and they have achieved continuous declining ratio in this regard and their youth have become less prone to the tobacco use. But developing countries like Pakistan are facing huge surge in usage of tobacco and other toxic drugs in youth, she said.
Dr Yasir Rahman, Consultant Pulmonary & Intensive Care, SKMCH&RC said, the tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced, killing nearly six million people a year.It is a gradual killer, because there is a lag of several years between when people start using tobacco and when their health suffers, he added.
It is a main cause of different type of cancers, cardiovascular and respiratory diseasesincluding coronary heart disease and lung cancer. If we can stop tobacco use, we can prevent millions of lives from these fatal menaces.–PR
He further said that every sort of tobacco like cigarette, pipe, water pipes (Huqa), paan, gutka and inhaling tobacco, are lethal. There are more than 4000 chemicals in tobacco smoke, of which at least 250 are known to be harmful and more than 50 are known to cause cancer.
And there is no safe level of exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke. Major cause of lung cancer is use of tobacco and even female indulge in this habit is more susceptible to breast cancer also.–PR
