In Peshawar, 60% of tobacco users consume naswar. At one point, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Minister of Agriculture, Major (Retd.) Sajjad Khattak argued that imposing a tax on naswar is unjustified because it is the common people’s preferred form of intoxication, and it is not prohibited by Sharia law. Recent research on naswaar has revealed that it contains harmful substances that can cause cancer.
A recent study on naswar found that it contains harmful substances such as nicotine, invisible metals, and aflatoxin components, which can lead to cancer.
According to a report by Business Recorder, researchers have emphasized the urgent need to develop and implement smokeless tobacco control policies in Pakistan to curb tobacco use.
This research was conducted in collaboration with the Office of Research, Innovation, and Commercialization (ORIC), Khyber Medical University (KMU), and the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR).
According to Dr. Shehzad, the study’s supervisor, the research was carried out across all seven divisions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including Peshawar, Mardan, Hazara, Kohat, D.I. Khan, Bannu and Malakand.
Fourteen major brands of naswar were selected, and two samples were collected from each division. He further added that the study aimed to investigate the ingredients of the most widely used brands.
The use of smokeless tobacco is a growing public health concern, with an estimated 360 million users worldwide, more than 90% of whom reside in South Asia.
In Pakistan, an estimated 8% of the population uses various smokeless tobacco products, including paan, gutka, and naswaar. However, naswaar use is most common among the ethnic Pashtun population in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, where approximately 15% of the general population consumes it.
A study found that 60% of tobacco users in Peshawar consume naswar. Researchers identified 85 different chemical compounds in naswar samples using GC-MS analysis, with nicotine being the most common component present in all samples.
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all kinds of tea, some veg. like potatoes and tomatoes and even fruits contain nicotine, so don’t drink it may cause cancer