JEDDAH, 19 January 2006 — The hazardous habit of smoking, the main cause of lung cancer that kills more than 1.5 million worldwide annually, is growing in Saudi Arabia, especially among its younger population.
According to a report issued by the executive office of Gulf Cooperation Council health ministers, Saudi Arabia consumes more than 15 billion cigarettes worth SR633 million a year. The Kingdom is one of the world’s largest importers of cigarettes, it said.
“Lung cancer is spreading among Saudi men and women at the rate of 3.9 percent,” it pointed out.
Smoking is rampant even among doctors, the report said, adding that about six percent of female doctors in the Kingdom have joined the bandwagon of smokers.
The Kingdom’s Western Region, whose main cities are Jeddah, Makkah, Madinah and Taif, accounts for the highest number (26.8 percent) of smokers while the Northern Region represents the lowest number with 14.9 percent.
Saudi women compete with their male population to smoke off their health and pollute the country’s clean environment. Women in the Eastern Province have got the credit of being the country’s largest tobacco consumers (45.5 percent).
Diseases caused by smoking kill more than 1.5 million people worldwide annually, the report said, adding that the figure could hit 10 million by 2020.
The Saudi Health Ministry has taken a series of measures to reduce the number of smokers in the country. It used this Haj season as a suitable occasion to educate smokers to quit the unhealthy habit.
Entitled “Let’s Make Makkah and Madinah Free from Tobacco,” the ministry’s anti-smoking campaign was focused on keeping the pilgrims posted on the serious health and economic consequences of smoking.
The event coincided with a landmark decision taken by the Madinah Municipality on Jan. 1, banning the selling of tobacco and its ingredients at shops around the Prophet’s Mosque.
The government has banned smoking in many public places, such as schools, universities, health and sports institutions, government buildings and public transport. Violators of the rule would be fined SR200 on the spot.
The ministry has established specialized clinics to help people quit smoking. But nicotine makes it hard for them to quit as it is as addictive as heroin and cocaine.
Smoking causes not only lung cancer but also other kinds of cancer such as cancer of the mouth, voice box (larynx), throat (pharynx), esophagus, bladder, kidney, pancreas, liver, cervix, stomach, colon and rectum, and leukemia.
Smokers are twice as likely to die from heart attacks as are nonsmokers. Women who smoke are more likely to have a miscarriage or a lower birth-weight baby, medical experts say.
Smoking is no more considered a fashion or a matter of prestige. Studies show smoking employees cost businesses more as they are out sick more frequently. Smokers put the health of those around them in danger. Studies have shown that secondhand smoke causes thousands of deaths each year from lung cancer and heart disease in healthy nonsmokers.
