Health experts have urged the government to take all appropriate measures to curb tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoking in the country.
They were speaking at the 6th Biennial Conference, organised by the Pakistan Chest Society on Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases, late Sunday.
The experts also urged the government to sign and ratify the "Framework Convention on Tobacco Control," (FCTC) and tobacco control initiatives should be planned according to the spirit of the FCTC.
The Network for Consumer Protection, Pakistan Chest Society, Aga Khan University, Pakistan Anti-tobacco Coalition and other partner organisations committed to comprehensive tobacco control and asked the government to sign the treaty as most of the countries have already ratified it.
The FCTC comprises many diverse aspects of tobacco control, including advertising promotion and sponsorship, packaging and labelling, price and tax measures, sales to and by young persons, passive smoking and treatment of dependence.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) member countries had agreed to formally endorse the treaty by signing and ratifying it, for which the document is open for signature at the UN headquarters from June 30, 2003 to June 2004.
About 98 countries have already signed the treaty and nine countries have ratified it as well. Amongst the counties of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc), all nations, except Pakistan and Maldives, have signed.
They urged the government that a comprehensive ban on both direct and indirect tobacco promotion and sponsorship should be imposed in the country. Plans should be developed for crop diversification to help tobacco growers find new alternatives for their livelihood, they added.
They also demanded to set up smoking cessation clinics in the country to help smokers to give up smoking.
Awareness campaigns be launched in the country about the health, economic, social and environmental effects of tobacco use, they added.
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