Speaking at a symposium on 
‘Tobacco and Oral Cancer’ as part of the one-day International Medical Sciences Academy Conference organised by the RAK College of Dental Sciences in collaboration with International Medical Sciences Academy and the UAE Association for Dental Education and Research on Sunday, Prof. Saman Warnakulasuriya, Head of the Department of Oral Medicine, King’s College, London, said it is unfortunate that the UAE was among the countries with high prevalence of tobacco use.

“The steps taken so far by the country in controlling tobacco use, including banning smoking in public places, are welcome and in the right direction. But the country needs to have a comprehensive anti-tobacco strategy which should include provision to ban advertisements of tobacco products and increase taxation on tobacco products,” he said while presenting a paper on the ‘Global Tobacco Burden’.

Prof. Saman, who is also the Director of WHO Collaborating Centre for Oral Cancer, said laws restricting sale of cigarettes to minors should be strictly implemented.

“Obviously, there should be a complete ban on tobacco advertisements, along with a ban on representation of cigarette smoking and tobacco use in films and plays. It is needed because onscreen representation of smoking is likely to draw teenagers to adopt the habit,” he said.

“Another area of concern has been the display of cigarette packets at the counters of shops and supermarkets. In the UK, the authorities have taken steps to prohibit display of cigarette packets at the point of sales as it would make people buy them impulsively.”

Prof. Saman also called upon the health authorities to conduct research on the ill- effects of Shisha or water-pipe smoking. “It is an area where we don’t have much research and I very much encourage the UAE authorities to have some research on the ill-effects of water-pipe smoking as we know that no tobacco is safe,” he added.

He said tobacco use is negatively impacting developing countries the most as around 900 million, of the total of 1.3 billion smokers, are from developing countries. Around five million people die every year as a result of tobacco use, posing an enormous global social and economic burden.

“By 2020, it is estimated that there will be 10 million deaths per year as a consequence of tobacco use and 70 per cent of that will be from developing countries,” he added.

Prof. Saman said one-third of all cancers worldwide are attributed to use of tobacco. “When it comes to lung cancer, two-thirds or more are caused by smoking alone,” he added.

As many as 12 international and local speakers from the UK, India, Pakistan and the UAE presented papers at the conference.