JEDDAH, 5 March 2007 — Six million people in Saudi Arabia puff out 40,000 tons of cigarettes worth more than SR5 billion ($1.3 billion) every year and the number of Saudi women smokers, especially teenage girls, stands at a staggering 600,000, according to figures released by Dr. Abdullah Al-Badah, supervisor of the anti-smoking program at the Health Ministry.
The Kingdom, with a population of about 27 million including expatriates, has one of the world’s largest rates in cigarettes consumption. “The Kingdom is placed 23rd among the largest cigarette consuming countries. Annual per capita cigarette intake in the Kingdom is 2,130 while its total annual consumption is put at 15 billion cigarettes,” Al-Badah explained. Muhammad ibn Marzouk Al-Harithy, director of the Charitable Society to Enhance Public Awareness against Smoking and Drugs in the Makkah Region, estimates the annual number of deaths in the Kingdom as a result of smoking-related diseases to be 23,000. A large number of people suffer from chronic diseases, including cardiac ailments and different types of cancer every year due to smoking, he added.
“If we assume that the Kingdom’s six million smokers consume at least one packet of cigarettes valued at SR5, the total spending is SR30 million daily,” he pointed out.
“About 8 percent of young Saudi men and women start smoking before the primary-school level; 20 percent during primary-school level; 30 percent during intermediate level; and 10 percent while they are in the first year of the secondary level,” he said, citing results of a survey.
Dr. Amer Radwi, consultant oncologist at Princess Noura Oncology Center of King Abdul Aziz Medical City in Jeddah, called for a nationwide campaign to reduce the spread of smoking, especially among young men and women. “We should target students at schools and universities as the majority picks up the habit before the age of 20,” he pointed out. He urged the government to enforce regulations to ban smoking in public places.
Radwi cautioned men and women against the dangerous consequences of smoking as it can cause various types of cancer such as lung cancer, head and neck cancer, stomach cancer and bladder cancer. “People should keep away from smoking areas as secondary smoking is equally dangerous and deadly. Parents should not smoke inside their houses to protect their children and other family members from the hazardous effects of smoking.”
Studies have proved that secondary smoking causes thousands of deaths from lung cancer and heart disease among healthy nonsmokers each year.
“Cigarette smoke contains about 4,500 chemical agents, including over 60 carcinogens,” Radwi told Arab News. They include substances, such as carbon monoxide, tar, arsenic, and lead, which are toxic to the human body. Nicotine is a drug that is naturally present in the tobacco plant and is primarily responsible for a person’s addiction to tobacco products, including cigarettes. While smoking, nicotine is absorbed quickly into the bloodstream and travels to the brain in a matter of seconds.
