English abstract
One of the very interesting articles in this issue is Tobacco Smoking and Lung Cancer: Perception-changing facts. 1 The author has raised a salient issue by stressing that strict regulations to control tobacco smoking can reduce mortality due to lung cancer and other diseases. The problem is that tobacco use has become a mass global phenomenon—currently an estimated 794 million adults use tobacco, smoking 5,884 billion cigarettes a year. A further 350 million are exposed to second-hand smoke (SHS) at work. All these efforts assure us that there are now unprecedented opportunities to prevent and eradicate tobacco dependence by proven interventions aimed at both the population and individuals. The effectiveness of tobacco control policies will depend on coordination and cooperation between the various government and non-government organisations. In Oman, we need to increase awareness among adolescents in order to reduce rates of smoking initiation, increase quit attempts through improved access to cessation therapies, and protect non-smokers by re examining smoke-free policies in recreation venue.
