Matters India Reporter
New Delhi: The world observes No Tobacco Day on May 31.
The need to fight tobacco use has become urgent as at least 8,640 people die every day because of cancer caused by the use of tobacco or tobacco products. Among them 3,228 are Indians. In other words, 137 people die every hour in India while a person dies every six second in the world.
To check this menace, the World Health Organisation has fixed “Tobacco –a threat to Development” as theme for 2017.
On May 31, the whole world will resolve not to use tobacco to save its coming generation and its development.
According to data available one single cigarette reduces up to 11 minutes of one’s life, while a full packet takes away 3 hours and 40 minutes of life.
According to a 2010 Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) report, 85 percent men and 20 percent women in India use tobacco in some form or other. The World Health Organisation (WHO) report, the Global Tobacco Epidemic, warns that the tobacco consumption among women is on the rise, and it includes youths. The same survey says 10 percent girls have admitted to smoking cigarettes.
When this survey was done, 35 percent people took tobacco, and six years later, the figures have increased manifold. A GATS survey is planned this year in India.
Almost 50 percent of young smokers become victim of tobacco related diseases leading to untimely death. Average life of smokers is 22 to 26 percent less compared to that of non-smokers.
Global Adult Tobacco Survey – India 2010 report acknowledges that tobacco use is a biggest preventable cause of premature death and disease. Globally, 1 in every 10 adult deaths is caused by tobacco consumption. Also, globally, 5.5 million people die each year because of tobacco consumption. And approximately, one fifth of these deaths occur in India. The WHO estimates that the world will have 2.2 billion tobacco consumers by 2050.
In the WHO Framework Convention for Tobacco Control, 178 countries of the world have agreed to frame their own policy on tobacco control. In 2014, the WHO appealed these countries to raise the taxes on tobacco to save hundreds of thousands of lives annually.
Dr. T P Sahoo, patron of the Voice of Tobacco Victims and Cancer Doctor, says that the tobacco industry daily unleashes new efforts to attract youths toward the world of tobacco. With the aim of catch ‘em young, it projects tobacco products as a synonym of adulthood, modernism, affluence, classiness and superiority.
Recent initial researches suggest probability of partial genetic changes among tobacco consumers which raises not only the vulnerability of that person, but also that of coming generation toward cancer. With the consumption of tobacco products, impotency among males are increasing while reproductive capacity among females decreasing.
Dr. Sahoo said that tobacco increases the risk of mouth, throat, stomach, liver and lungs cancer. Most tobacco related diseases are lungs and blood related, treatments for which is costly as well as complicated.
An Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) study report reveals that 50 percent cancer cases in males and 25 percent cases in females are caused by tobacco consumption. As much as 90 percent of it is oral cancer. Smokeless tobacco contains more than 3,000 chemical compounds, of which 29 are carcinogenic. Largest number of oral cancer patients resides in India. Consumption of gutka, chewing tobacco, pan, and cigarette may cause oral cancer.
Sanjay Seth, Trustee, Sambandh Health Foundation, has demanded the state governments to implement the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) strictly to keep tobacco products out of reach of children and young people. It’s necessary for all the modern and progressive states to implement COTPA strictly to provide a healthy atmosphere to their citizens.
Police in states such as Karnataka and Kerala have played commendable role in restricting the consumption of tobacco and other tobacco products. In several states, police have played a announced all educational institutions as tobacco-free to restrict tobacco consumption among children.
Seth says that each day, 5,500 children begin to consume tobacco in India and before become tobacco addict by the time they become adults. Only 3 percent tobacco consumers are able to free themselves from tobacco addiction.
So, it’s necessary to stop children from initiation into tobacco consumption.
Notably, the World Bank has also proposed that developing countries impose 75 to 100 percent tax on tobacco to discourage its consumption.
(Source: A press release)