KUCHING: State Secretary Tan Sri Mohamad Morshidi Abdul Ghani has an advice for civil servants in Sarawak – quit smoking for a healthier life.
Speaking at the launch of the Non-Smoking Practices Awareness Campaign for Wisma Bapa Malaysia staff here yesterday, Morshidi said besides healthy living, non-smoking civil servants would not be exposing others around them, especially those seeking their services, to the dangers of smoking.
“We know that smoking can cause cancer and people around who inhale cigarette smoke (secondhand smoke) are exposed to unexpected diseases, especially lung cancer,” he said.
Morshidi said cancer cases were increasing day by day and that cancer was one of the leading causes of death worldwide.
“According to the Ministry of Health statistics in 2015, it is estimated that 10, 000 out of 32 million Malaysians die each year due to illnesses related to smoking.
“Based on the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2015, 98 percent of adults aged 18 years and above were reported to have one of the risk factors and civil servants are no exception.
“This study showed 23.1 percent suffered from related illnesses due to this unhealthy behaviour,” he said.
Morshidi added scientific studies had proven that every cigarette would produce over 4,000 toxic chemicals in secondhand smoke.
