Medical practitioners call for tobacco ban

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June 1, 2016 1:39 PM

Every six seconds, one person in the world dies of tobacco, campaigners in Kaduna have said.

Cigarettes are seen during the manufacturing process in the British American Tobacco Cigarette Factory (BAT) in Bayreuth, southern Germany, April 30, 2014. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle

The campaigners against tobacco who are mostly medical practitioners, appealed to the Federal Government to ban Tobacco companies from supplying cigarette in the country.

Speaking at the World no-Tobacco-Day sensitization organised for students of various health schools in Kaduna on Tuesday, May 31 2016, Hajiya Maryam Abubakar, said smokers have great risk for diseases that affect the heart and blood vessels.

Maryam said tobacco-related illness is one of the highest public health threat the world has ever faced, adding that smoking harms nearly every organ of the body and affects a person’s overall health system.

"Approximately one person dies from a Tobacco-caused disease every six seconds in the world, equivalent to almost 6 million people a year. Smoking causes general adverse effects on the body, including inflammation and decreased immune function. This causes general adverse effects on the body, including inflammation and decreased immune function," Hajiya Maryam while calling on the Federal government to quickly intervene.

Another health expert, Mallam Abdulhakim Mohammad Miko, said "we want students and the general public to know that Smoking can cause cancer almost anywhere in the body which include: bladder, blood (acute myeloid leukemia), cervix, colon and rectum (colorectal), oesophagus, kidney and ureter, larynx, liver, oropharynx (includes parts of the throat, tongue, soft palate, and the tonsils), pancreas, stomach, trachea, bronchus, and lung.”

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