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As tobacco is the cause of 40 percent of cancer cases in India, experts say banning it alone won't help. What is desired, they feel, is for the government to open more sedation clinics and begin education about the ill-effects of tobacco at the school level as children have started taking to smoking early these days.
'The government has been doing the awareness bit, but there is a need of setting more tobacco sedation clinics that can assist the people in getting rid of addiction to smoking and the use of tobacco-related products,' Pawan Gupta, head of department, surgical oncology, Asian Institute of Medical Sciences, told IANS.
Gupta, who has written a book, 'Win over Tobacco Made Easy', also wants the government to hold de-addiction workshops that can be a crucial for creating awareness.
It has been observed that tobacco - mainly in the form of gutka, beetle nut (paan), zarda and areca nuts - is the main cause of 80 to 90 percent of mouth cancer cases in India.
According to a report 'Challenges to Effective Cancer Control in China, India and Russia - The Lancet Oncology'( April 2014) around two-fifths (40 percent) of all cancers in India are attributed to tobacco use, and the economic cost of illness and premature death due to tobacco consumption exceeds the combined government and state spend on medical and public health, water supply and sanitation.
'In urban areas smoking is fashionable, while in tier II and tier III cities tobacco-related products are consumed. So there have to be more de-addiction camps at the grassroot level,' Manish Singhal, consultant, medical oncology, at Fortis Hospital, told IANS.
Adding fuel to this growing malady is that schoolchildren take to smoking at an early age. This includes a growing number of young girls and women joining this dangerous bandwagon.
'School children take to smoking when they are just 9-10 years old; so it becomes important to bring awareness at the school level and conduct workshops and seminars on it,' Menu Walia, director, medical oncology, Max Super Specialty Hospital, told IANS.
On its part, the government is leaving no stone unturned to make the public aware of the gory effects of using tobacco-related products on health, the lungs and the mouth. This is through posters displayed at public places and short-videos screened before movies in cinema halls.
Then, the warning - 'Tobacco Kills' or 'Smoking is Injurious to Health' - runs at the bottom of the screen every time an actor smokes in a film.
'Children very easily get influenced on what is shown on television and in films. They get impressed when their favorite stars smoke, so banning on-screen smoking will help and go a long way,' said Walia.
Every year World No Tobacco Day is acknowledged on May 31 to increase awareness about the dangers of tobacco consumption. For more information please see https://www.thehealthsite.com/topics/tobacco/
Tobacco the most dangerous weapon of mass destruction?
Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi had told us earlier: 'It is a well-known fact 50% of all cancer cases caused in India are caused by tobacco use. In my work (I am a Professor and Cancer Surgeon at the Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai), I see young people affected with the most horrible cancers every day and most of them die within weeks of diagnosis. Tobacco kills every third user prematurely through cancer, heart attack, stroke, etc. You will realise the sheer gravity of the situation when you realise that over 27 crore Indians are hooked to tobacco. Consider this, the World War II considered the deadliest conflict in human history had over 50 million casualties. In comparison, it's estimated that tobacco has killed 1 billion people in the last century.
It is the only consumer product that is almost guaranteed to cause death, disease and disability and even the industry that sells it admits it on its labels. According to WHO, tobacco addiction is a 'disease'. How can we promote an industry selling death and disease to every third Indian solely for profits? ' Read his article on how tobacco is the most dangerous weapon of mass destruction of all time.
With inputs from IANS
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