Bhopal: As many as 2,739 people die daily in India from cancer caused by the use of tobacco and tobacco products, according to a survey.

Tobacco is the largest known and preventable cause of cardio-vascular death and disability in the world, says T P Sahoo, cancer surgeon and patron of the Voice of Tobacco Victims. According to him, chemicals such as nicotine are constrictive in nature leading to coronary problems. “It is commonly known that smoking increases the risk of heart disease but the fact is that smokeless forms of tobacco are equally harmful,” he added.

The Global Adult Tobacco Survey conducted during 2016-2017 showed that consumption of smokeless tobacco is far more than smoked tobacco in India.

The data shows that 42.4 percent men, 14.2 percent women and 28.6 percent of all adults currently either smoke and or use smokeless tobacco, says a press release Sanjay Seth, trustee of Sambandh Health Foundation, issued on May 31, the World No Tobacco Day.

The survey data shows 19 percent men, 2 percent women and 10.7 percent adults currently smoke tobacco, while 29.6 percent men, 12.8 percent women and 21.4 percent of all adults currently use smokeless tobacco. Smokeless tobacco users at 199 million are far more than 100 million smokers, whether cigarettes or bidis, the survey says.

The theme for this year is “Tobacco and Heart Disease.’ The World Health Organisation and partners will make people aware about the link between tobacco and cardiovascular diseases, including stroke, which combined are the world’s leading cause of death.

“We are celebrating today, but irony is that in coming 24 hours, will lose their lives in India due to cancer caused by use of tobacco and other tobacco products,” Seth points out.

General perception about smokeless or chewing tobacco is that it is safer than cigarettes and bidis, as it does not cause heart disease, but according to experts, tobacco consumed in any form is injurious to health. Using tobacco whether in form of smoking or chewing causes cancer, heart diseases and other severe ailments, the press release says.

Tobacco use is classified as ‘disease’ under International classification of diseases. This is because the quit rates are very low – only about 3 percent in India. With such a low probability of quitting and such a high probability of tobacco use leading to a multitude of diseases, the prevalence of tobacco has been rightly termed as the Tobacco Epidemic.

Doctor Pankaj Chaturvedi, professor Surgical Oncology from Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, says tobacco consumption, in any form, does not spare any of the body part from its harmful effects.

Even smokeless tobacco causes similar ill effects in direct or indirect forms. Apart from causing direct damage to the vessels of our body, it causes significantly increased mortality after the heart attack, in people consuming smokeless tobacco.”

The health expenditure of the government as well as society is manifold more than the revenue and employment generated by all forms of tobacco.

Seth says tobacco use is estimated to cause nearly about 10 percent of all cardiovascular (CV) disease. Given the large burden of CV disease in India, the impact of this is huge. While governments are budgeting large outlays for setting up healthcare facilities there should be greater focus on prevention strategies, chief among them being reduction of tobacco usage, he added.