The Papua New Guinea Medical Society says the mildly intoxicating betelnut is claiming at least two thousand lives a year.
It wants the chewing and selling of betelnut to be regulated.
The Post Courier newspaper quotes the Medical Society president, Dr Mathias Sapuri, saying Papua New Guineans must be made aware of the health hazards caused by betelnut chewing.
Dr Sapuri says every year a lot of Papua New Guineans were dying from diseases such as mouth cancer, poor oral hygiene, cancer of the throat, gastritis, peptic ulcers and inflammation of the gums.
He says these were diseases caused by betelnut chewing while rubbish from betelnut dumped around urban centres such as Port Moresby was contributing to diseases such as tuberculosis.
He says betelnut chewing is a major health issue with statistics showing that mouth cancer is killing almost 2000 Papua New Guineans every year.
