KARACHI, March 14: Medical experts, consumers and non-governmental organizations on Sunday urged the government to take effective measures to curb tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoking in the country.

In a resolution adopted unanimously at the sixth biennial conference of the Pakistan Chest Society on tuberculosis and lung diseases, the participants also urged the government to ratify the "Framework Convention on Tobacco Control". They said the tobacco control initiatives should be planned according to the spirit of the FCTC.

The Network for Consumer Protection, Pakistan Chest Society, Aga Khan University, Pakistan Anti-tobacco Coalition and other partner organizations said the Pakistani government was reluctant to sign the treaty even though most other countries had already initialled it.

The FCTC comprised many aspects of tobacco control, including advertising promotion and sponsorship; packaging and labelling; price and tax measures; sales to and by young persons; passive smoking and treatment of dependence.

The speakers said the World Health Organization's member countries had agreed to formally endorse the treaty by signing and ratifying it, for which the document was open for signature at the UN headquarters from June 30 last year to June 2004.

So far about 98 countries had signed the treaty and nine countries had ratified it as well. In South Asia all the countries except Pakistan and the Maldives had singed, with India and Sri Lanka being a step ahead by ratifying it.

They said a comprehensive ban on both direct and indirect tobacco promotion and sponsorship should be banned in Pakistan. Plans should be developed for crop diversification to help tobacco growers find new alternatives to earn their livelihood.

The speakers also said that "smoking cessation clinics" should be set up in the country to help smokers quit smoking. Awareness campaigns be launched in the country about the health, economic, social and environmental effects of tobacco use, they added.

The participants of the conference, including international tobacco control experts from Turkey, India and Iran, discussed strategies to combat tobacco epidemic in the region.

They said the tobacco industry was turning towards the developing world for new markets to sell their lethal products, after having faced increased regulations in the developed world.

It was the responsibility of the government to undermine tobacco industry's contrived tactics of depicting themselves as a socially responsible entity. Dr Mira B. Aghi of Tobacco Control India said a lot of people died of the diseases caused by smoking. Dr Elif Dagli, a renowned chest physician from Turkey, insisted that the physicians should themselves stop smoking and then urge their patients to do so.

Prof Javed A. Khan of Aga Khan University said tobacco killed about 100,000 people every year in Pakistan and doctors should support and play their part to save the youth from the hazards of smoking.

Dr Farrukh Qureshi, Coordinator of the Tobacco Free Initiative, and Dr Mukhtar Zaman Afridi of the Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar, also spoke on the occasion.