Tobacco-related diseases killed as many as 100,000 people every year and nearly 1,200 children start smoking every day in Pakistan because of government inaction, health experts agreed on Tuesday.

They were addressing a seminar on the 'Role of Media for Advancing Tobacco Control'.

Criticising the government inaction on tobacco control laws, Project Co-ordinator of the Network for Consumer Protection Dr Hussan Mehmood said that around 40 percent men and 9 percent women smoked in Pakistan.

China currently has 260 million patients with chronic diseases, and these illnesses have resulted in some 85 percent of the country's total deaths, figures from the Ministry of Health show.

According to a 2012-2015 blueprint on chronic disease prevention and control released by the ministry on Monday, as a result of fast urbanization and industrialization in an aging society, chronic diseases are becoming more prevalent and have taken up some 70 percent of China's total treatment costs.

Most of the smokers feel encouraged to keep on this bad habit because of easy availability and comparatively lower prices of tobacco products, says a survey report.
The government’s present and former officials, who attended the launch of the report, however, said it was not always possible to reduce the rate of smoking only by increasing prices of cigarettes while awareness was much more necessary in this regard.
The programme was organised by the Campaign for Clean Air at the BIAM Foundation auditorium in the capital on Friday.

Tobacco use is one of the leading preventable causes of death. The global tobacco epidemic kills nearly 6 million people each year. More than 600,000 people are exposed to passive smoking. Unless the countries take action promptly to arrest tobacco use, the death rate will rise to eight million people by 2030. Of them more than 80 per cent live in low and middle-income countries," Professor Carlo Fonseka told The Island.

Bulgaria's parliament has adopted a total ban on smoking in indoor public places, after earlier attempts failed due to strong opposition from restaurant owners.

The ban, which was approved yesterday and comes into force on June 1, has stirred discontent among many Bulgarians, at least 40 percent of whom are believed to smoke.

Bulgaria's smoky restaurants and cafes are at the heart of the social life in this traditional, tobacco-growing country of 7.3 million people.

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, commonly found in marine and plant oils, could help limit damage caused by smoking, says a new study from Greece. The study assessed the effect of four-week oral treatment with two grams daily of Omega-3 fatty acids on arterial health of cigarette smokers.
The results showed that short-term treatment with the fish oil improves arterial stiffness and minimises the acute smoking-induced damage to arterial elasticity.

138 million Indian smokers do not know tobacco causes stroke. Even smoking a few cigarettes a day significantly increases the risk of heart disease. Smokeless tobacco products have also been linked to an increased risk of heart disease and stroke. Nearly 138 million Indian smokers do not know that smoking tobacco causes stroke.

The owners of residential buildings would have to adopt smoking policies and disclose them to prospective apartment buyers and tenants, under a law proposed Wednesday by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who has made curbing smoking a cornerstone of his public health policy.

The bill would require buildings with three or more apartments — whether rental, condominium or cooperative units — to disclose whether smoking is allowed in all indoor and outdoor locations, including inside apartments, on balconies and rooftops and in courtyards.

Government could soon force cigarette makers to sell plain, brand-free packets as it seeks to encourage more smokers to quit.

A three-month consultation launched by the government on Monday will ask for views on whether packets of cigarettes should be changed to a plain, standardised template, remain as they are, or be fashioned in a different way.

The government has already forced manufacturers such as Imperial Tobacco and Japan Tobacco - who share more than 80 percent of the UK market - to print stark health warnings and images of smoking-related diseases on packs.