Oblivious of the ensuing health hazards, many Saudi females are picking up smoking habits. According to recent statistics provided by a Saudi official, as many as 16 percent of Saudi women are addicted to this dangerous habit. What is more alarming is the fact that 2.7 percent of the female smokers are intermediate girl students, the second largest grou after Saudi women doctors. Dr. Abdullah Al-Badah, supervisor of Anti-Smoking Program at the Ministry of Health, said men and women in the 20-39 age group smoke cigarettes, Asharq Al-Awsat reported on Tuesday. Dr. Al-Badah attributes the spread of the bad habit particularly among teens to the impact of tobacco advertising. He said sociologists have to find a way to curb this tendency. In this respect, Dr. Al-Badah said, the sociologists have to find out the causes as to why the teens fall easy prey to tobacco advertisements even when they are aware of the dangers tobacco poses to health. Dr. Al-Badah noted that as children move into their teens, a kind of insecurity creeps in. The teens feel insecure about their appearance and their popularity among their peers and tobacco companies exploit this tendency to lure them towards smoking habit. Referring to another study conducted in the Kingdom, Dr. Al-Badah pointed out that women usually start smoking at the age of 15. The same found out that the percentage of teen Saudi female smokers is estimated at 4.7 percent. Smoking is also rampant among expatriate women and it stands at 9.4 percent. He pointed out that Jeddah stands first in terms of number of female smokers across the Kingdom. Al-Badah also noted that there was no study indicating the total money women spend on cigarettes. Dr. Al-Badah said a recent economic study showed that imports of tobacco products cost the national economy more than SR2 billion annually. The spending on tobacco becomes more voluminous if we add expenditures incurred in medical care and services linked to smoking. This is a staggering amount, he said and added that this money could easily be spent on developmental projects in the Kingdom. Dr. Amer Radawi, Consultant Oncologist at the Princess Noura Oncolgy Center at King Abdul Aziz Medical City in Jeddah, called for a nationwide campaign to reduce the spread of smoking, especially among young men and women. He stressed the importance of launching an awareness program for students at schools and universities as the majority picks up the habit before the age of 20. He also praised the government's initiative of enforcing a law banning smoking in public places stressing that passive smoking is equally dangerous and deadly. “Parents should not smoke inside their homes to protect their children from passive smoking and its hazardous effects,” he added. Studies show that secondary smoking each year causes thousands of deaths from lung cancer and heart diseases, he noted. Dr. Al-Badah called for stricter measures to uproot this bad habit. “The society needs to play more effective role in this regard,” he said. __
