Korea Must Increase Cigarette Prices

World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan claims the best way to cut down on smoking is to make cigarettes more expensive. Chan, who attended an international seminar in Seoul on ways to curb smoking, pointed out that cigarette prices in Korea, which are around US$2 a pack, are far too cheap compared to $17 in Australia and $10 in Canada. Some 4,000 different substances go into cigarettes, and 1,200 of them are hazardous to health. They include around 20 cancer-causing agents, such as tar and phenol. It is now believed that cigarette smoking accounts for 30 percent of cancer cases around the world.

Smoking Tobacco Increased Among Women

Classical dancer Sheema Kirmani has deplored that the habit of smoking among women of various age groups is on the rise, resulting in growing tobacco-related health complications for them. Following a play against smoking held at the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) in collaboration with the All Pakistan Women Association (APWA), she said that a large number of Pakistani women of different age groups were now in the habit of smoking and consuming tobacco in its different forms.