OUR STAFF REPORTER LAHORE Like other parts of the globe, the World No-Tobacco Day will be observed across the country, including the City, on Tuesday with the purpose to raising public awareness about the dangers of smoking. Seminars, workshops and walks will be organized both at the government and private level to mark the event. Besides displaying banners and distributing awareness literature, leading healthcare institutions will organize conferences to highlight the complications caused to smokers, their family members, especially children. Besides other healthcare centres in the City, Department of Pulmonology, Shaikh Zayed Hospital will organize various activities which include distribution of literature on tobacco use, awareness walk - hazards and tobacco control and display of banners outside the hospital. World Health Organization celebrates World No Tobacco Day on May 31 every year for highlighting the health risks associated with tobacco use and advocating for effective policies to reduce consumption. Tobacco use is the second cause of death globally (after hypertension) and is currently responsible for killing one in 10 adults worldwide. The World Health Assembly created World No Tobacco Day in 1987 to draw global attention to the tobacco epidemic and its lethal effects. It provides an opportunity to highlight specific tobacco control messages and to promote adherence to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Tobacco use is the number one preventable epidemic that the health community faces. The death toll caused by tobacco use is rising relentlessly, and will reach over 8 million a year in two decades, with more than 80 percent of these deaths occurring in the developing world. Unless major action is taken, it is estimated that up to one billion people could die from tobacco use during the 21st century. In Pakistan perspective, there is a high proportion of elderly population in villages using hookah while in the urban area youth is getting attracted towards the new tobacco trend of 21st century, Shisha smoking. Shisha is a new form of hookah and cafeterias are having mushroom growth in our cities. In a recent Pakistani study among university students, 41.2 percent males and 16.8 percent females are using shisha regularly and majority think its use is safer than cigarettes. To reserve these trends and protect young people from the harm caused by tobacco, there is dire need of moving beyond half-measures. We must break the tobacco marketing net by banning tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. Partial advertising bans are ineffective. The tobacco industry keeps shifting its resources from one promotional tactic to another. Only a total, comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship will effectively reduce its use. This is clearly reflected in article 13 of WHO framework Convention on tobacco control, and is also a major element of the WHO policies to reserve the tobacco epidemic. The survival of the tobacco industry depends on attracting and retaining young people as consumers of its products. Without new, young tobacco users to replace those who quit or die, the tobacco industry could not continue to exist.