KARACHI: The latest report by the Pakistan Pediatrics Association reveals that between 1000 - 1200 school-going children, aged between 6-16 take up smoking every day.
As part of the Association’s anti-smoking campaign, targeting the youth, their research estimates that smokers from low socio-economic class spend a quarter of their combined household income on cigarettes.
The c(WHO) rolled out additional devastating statistics. For one, the trend of smoking in Pakistan is increasing so much so that it has gone up 30% compared to what it was in 1998. 19% of the country’s adults admit to smoking while tobacco-induced diseases kill nearly 60,000 people annually. Moreover, teenagers between 13-15 years of age reported that they are exposed to second-hand smoke in public, while 27% are exposed at home. This is especially disturbing, considering how scientific research suggests that addiction of any kind is hereditary.
The WHO’s past experience in dealing with the matter indicates that if all other tobacco control protocols are maintained, banning tobacco marketing can lower the sales of tobacco products by 7-16%.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.