Easy availability of hazardous concoction of tobacco, infected betel nuts, chemicals and color unfit for human consumption has made Pakistanis as young as 12 to 14 vulnerable to oral cancer, Prof Tariq Rafi, who is associated with Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, told APP on Tuesday.
He said that contrary to international data, women and children in Pakistan and other South Asian countries are more commonly inflicted with oral cancer compared to men.
“As per regional data this ratio comes to 1:2 with mean age of newly infected patients coming to be 30 plus compared to 50 plus in other parts of the world,” he said.
Rafi said anaemia and poor immunity against infections is the triggering factor for chewers of betel nuts, tobacco and their concoctions.
“This is a vicious cycle as children and women are already anaemic and the tendency to chew hazardous concoction further enhances their susceptibility to infections,” he said.
Prof Nizam ul Hassan, one of the senior pediatricians of the country and presently engaged in treatment and rehabilitation project for children agreed with Rafi, also identified consumption of sweetened supari, gutka etc as the major cause of oral cancer among children.
Hasan said approximately 8.1 million new cases of cancer occur annually representing an annual increase in the incidence by 2.1 percent.
Data on cancer incidence is scanty in developing countries as most of them are hospital based statistics and of little value,” he said.
The rising incidence of oral cancers among adult population as well as children he said demanded hefty sales tax on betel nuts and pan masala.
“The government must impose a hefty tax on purchase of each sachet or packet of betel-nut and bi-products to discourage their consumption and ultimately protect public health,” he said.
Hasan suggested that amount imposed as sales tax on purchase of every single cigarette must also be increased.
The pediatrician said besides being a serious health hazard the import of betel nuts also is an avoidable burden on the national exchequer.
Prof Umer Farooq, a senior ENT surgeon associated with the Civil
Hospital, Karachi, regretted that despite frequent reminders to the concerned authorities no step has been taken to stop sale of sweetened supari (betel nuts) among children or hazardous pan masala to youth and others in general.
“It is because of this indifference that Pakistan reports with 40 percent incidence of oral cancer compared to global figure of eight percent,” he said.
The senior ENT surgeon and a known researcher working in the field of malignancies in reply to a question said head and neck cancer tops the list for the most common cancers in the country.
“Most people do not seek help till they reach critical stages,” he said.
The researcher maintained that culprits triggering head and neck as well as throat cancers are again chronic smoking, alcohol, tobacco, paan and gutka.
“Chances of a five-year survival rate in head and neck cancer do not exceed 40 percent,” said the senior surgeon and attributed this to delayed referrals by majority of the patients.
