While awareness about the dangers of smoking has successfully led to the reduction of smoking rates in the West, developing countries still have a long way to go. This may be in part due to the fact that smoking advertisements are still not outlawed in poor developing countries such as Pakistan. British American Tobacco, for example, continues to dominate the market and benefit from a liberal tobacco advertising regime that is not only poorly tolerated but actively encouraged in this poor third world nation.
Pakistani girls are taking up smoking at increasingly early age. According to a recent study, girls as young as fifteen were starting to smoke due to peer pressure. Girls at Pakistani schools are often poorly overseen, resulting in their falling out of line and into bad company.
There is a great need for more awareness about the dangers of smoking and the link with lung cancer. This holds true for not only Pakistani girls and boys, but also all young people around the world. Developing countries still have a long way to go.
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