Islamabad: Rising tobacco and nicotine use among Pakistan’s youth, especially around educational institutions, emerged as the central concern at a national review session on tobacco control held by the Aurat Foundation in Islamabad.
Participants from Parliament, government departments, health organizations, and civil society warned that easy availability of cigarettes, vapes, nicotine pouches, and flavored tobacco near schools is creating a growing public health threat. The discussion also pointed to a noticeable increase in tobacco use among women, indicating a shifting trend.
The session called for stronger legislation, faster policy action, and strict enforcement to counter the rapid spread of emerging nicotine products. Speakers emphasized that existing laws remain poorly implemented due to procedural delays, weak monitoring, and limited coordination between federal and provincial bodies.
The need for clear parental awareness, community engagement, and better recognition of new nicotine products was highlighted as an essential part of early prevention. Officials noted that families and schools often remain unaware of modern products marketed to young people.
Technical briefings identified major enforcement gaps and policy loopholes that allow the tobacco industry to expand its reach. Participants noted that companies are increasingly using social media trends, entertainment content, and youth-focused marketing to promote vaping in urban areas.
Government representatives reaffirmed ongoing federal efforts to implement the Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-Smokers Health Ordinance 2002 and to tighten regulations where required. Provincial representatives also announced plans to introduce new resolutions to strengthen tobacco control.
Education sector officials raised alarms over the rise of nicotine products around private institutions and called for tougher regulatory checks. Regulatory authorities stressed the need for a broader social movement to counter tobacco use nationwide.
Closing the event, the Aurat Foundation reiterated its commitment to evidence-based advocacy, cross-sector collaboration, and long-term public awareness initiatives aimed at building a healthier, tobacco-free society.
WASHINGTON : Phone numbers linked to more than 400 million Facebook accounts were listed online in the latest privacy lapse for the social media giant, US media reported on Wednesday.
An exposed server stored 419 million records on users across several databases — including 133 million US accounts, more than 50 million in Vietnam, and 18 million in Britain, according to technology news site TechCrunch.
The databases listed Facebook user IDs — unique digits attached to each account — the profiles’ phone numbers, as well as the gender listed by some accounts and their geographical locations, technology website TechCrunch reported.
The server was not password protected, meaning anyone could access the databases, and remained online until late on Wednesday when TechCrunch contacted the site’s host.
Facebook confirmed parts of the report but downplayed the extent of the exposure, saying that the number of accounts so far confirmed was around half of the reported 419 million.
It added that many of the entries were duplicates and that the data was old.
“The dataset has been taken down and we have seen no evidence that Facebook accounts were compromised,” a Facebook spokesperson told AFP.
Following the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal, when a firm used Facebook’s lax privacy settings to access millions of users’ personal details, the company disabled a feature that allowed users to search the platform by phone numbers. The exposure of a user’s phone number leaves them vulnerable to spam calls, SIM-swapping — as recently happened to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey — with hackers able to force-reset the passwords of the compromised accounts. (INP)
