Daily Times

PESHAWAR: Although the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Government has tabled the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Prohibition of Tobacco and Protection of Non-Smokers Health Bill, 2016 in Provincial Assembly but the ratio of smokers in public places and public transport is increasing day by day in the provincial capital.

According to the law if passed there will be a complete ban on smoking
at public places and its advertisement.

The violators of the law will pay Rs1,000 fine for the first violation while on the second violation they will have to pay Rs10, 000 fine and face three-year imprisonment.

The bill was presented by Health Minister Shahram Khan Tarakai in the House.

According to the Prohibition of Tobacco Bill, there will be a ban on sale of cigarettes to children under the age of 18 while sale of tobacco within 100 meters to any educational institution will be prohibited under the law.

Around 23.9 million adults in Pakistan currently use tobacco in any form, out of which six per cent
are women.

According to a report, 15.6 million people smoke tobacco. Men between the ages of 15-49 are more likely to use tobacco as compared to women in the country. Tobacco use is the world’s leading cause of preventable death. “Tobacco kills six million people around the world from which 80 per cent deaths occur in middle and low income countries,” the report added.

The Pakistan Pediatrics Association has estimated that 1,000 to 1,200 school-going children in the age group of 6 to 16 years take up smoking every day in the country.

According to the report, in Pakistan, 19 per cent of adults aged 18 and above smoke tobacco each year, approximately 60,000 people die of tobacco-related diseases in the country. Among youth of age group 13 to 15 years, around 34 per cent report being exposed to second-hand smoke in public places and 27 per cent report exposure at home.

According to a study on average Pakistani consume 180 million cigarettes each day which cost around 550 million rupees (200 billion rupees/year). The side effects of smoking are enormous and there are around 100,000 deaths (cancer, cardiovascular diseases, lung diseases etc.) each year due to smoking in Pakistan .Smoking is putting a huge economic and disease burden in Pakistan.

Recently a meeting was held under the chairmanship of DC Peshawar Riaz Mehsud in which all other department official were participate to curb the smoking habit and other tobacco material in public places and universities and for this different task were given to the officials. Health experts suggested that the government should take immediate steps to stop tobacco from educational institution and save our youth from tobacco and save their future.