Tobacco cuts across the rural-urban divide, with bidis currently accounting for 77% of the smoked tobacco मार्केट
As India bans smoking in public places from October 2, communications specialist Deepanjali Bhas argues the war on tobacco has to be fought both on the demand and supply side। WHO estimates 800,000 deaths each year due to tobacco use, expected to rise by another hundred thousand by 2010.
Nearly 800,000 deaths per year in India are attributed to one of the biggest public health issues in the country - tobacco consumption.
Even as Union Minister for Health Anbumani Ramadoss announced early September that, starting October 2, 2008, smoking in offices and private establishments – covering shopping malls, cinema halls, public/private workplaces, hotels, banquet halls, discotheques, canteens, coffee houses, pubs, bars, airport lounges and railway stations - would be banned in line with the revised rules of the Act pertaining to the prohibition of smoking in pubic places, the issue of tobacco consumption still receives minimal attention.
India has some of the strictest laws in place to stem tobacco consumption, but they are rarely implemented. Cigarette manufacturers continue to make money in India, even as they are on the retreat in western nations.
Serious health issue
Young India is a happy playground for advertisers who peddle smoking, with 50% of its population under the age of 24. A study by the University of Texas’ School of Public Health, published in June 2008, titled Associations Between Tobacco Marketing and Use Among Urban Youth In India, says that smoking is becoming increasingly popular among Indian children, some as young as sixth-graders.
India accounts for 12% of the world’s smokers and there are nearly 8 lakh deaths every year on account of tobacco use, according to World Health Organisation estimates। This figure is expected to touch 9.3 lakh by 2010. Lung cancer is assuming epidemic proportions in India, according to the Indian Society of Medical and Paediatric Oncology (ISMPO), while chewing tobacco or gutkha is strongly linked to oral cancer.
Non-governmental organisations actively fighting in the anti-tobacco domain maintain that tobacco consumption is a serious public health issue. Yet it has never received the recognition it deserves; nor does the average citizen regard the issue with any seriousness.
Even as the smoking population is dropping in developed countries, the numbers in India and China are on the rise। Stringent legislation enacted in India in 2004 has only made cigarette companies more creative; they make their presence felt through lifestyle brands and event sponsorships. That the law itself is barely implemented is another matter.
Tobacco cuts across the rural-urban divide, with bidis currently accounting for 77% of the smoked tobacco market. A recent study by the Centre for Global Health Research at the University of Toronto, Canada, states that 1 million Indians will die from smoking-related illnesses in the next 24 months.
The study (A Nationally Representative Case-Control Study of Smoking and Death in India), done by scientists from India, Canada and the UK, covered nearly 1.1 million homes across India. It found that men who smoke bidis lose six years of their life, women lose eight, and men who smoke cigarettes lose 10 years.
As India bans smoking in public places from October 2, communications specialist Deepanjali Bhas argues the war on tobacco has to be fought both on the demand and supply side। WHO estimates 800,000 deaths each year due to tobacco use, expected to rise by another hundred thousand by 2010.
Nearly 800,000 deaths per year in India are attributed to one of the biggest public health issues in the country - tobacco consumption.
Even as Union Minister for Health Anbumani Ramadoss announced early September that, starting October 2, 2008, smoking in offices and private establishments – covering shopping malls, cinema halls, public/private workplaces, hotels, banquet halls, discotheques, canteens, coffee houses, pubs, bars, airport lounges and railway stations - would be banned in line with the revised rules of the Act pertaining to the prohibition of smoking in pubic places, the issue of tobacco consumption still receives minimal attention.
India has some of the strictest laws in place to stem tobacco consumption, but they are rarely implemented. Cigarette manufacturers continue to make money in India, even as they are on the retreat in western nations.
Serious health issue
Young India is a happy playground for advertisers who peddle smoking, with 50% of its population under the age of 24. A study by the University of Texas’ School of Public Health, published in June 2008, titled Associations Between Tobacco Marketing and Use Among Urban Youth In India, says that smoking is becoming increasingly popular among Indian children, some as young as sixth-graders.
India accounts for 12% of the world’s smokers and there are nearly 8 lakh deaths every year on account of tobacco use, according to World Health Organisation estimates। This figure is expected to touch 9.3 lakh by 2010. Lung cancer is assuming epidemic proportions in India, according to the Indian Society of Medical and Paediatric Oncology (ISMPO), while chewing tobacco or gutkha is strongly linked to oral cancer.
Non-governmental organisations actively fighting in the anti-tobacco domain maintain that tobacco consumption is a serious public health issue. Yet it has never received the recognition it deserves; nor does the average citizen regard the issue with any seriousness.
Even as the smoking population is dropping in developed countries, the numbers in India and China are on the rise। Stringent legislation enacted in India in 2004 has only made cigarette companies more creative; they make their presence felt through lifestyle brands and event sponsorships. That the law itself is barely implemented is another matter.
Tobacco cuts across the rural-urban divide, with bidis currently accounting for 77% of the smoked tobacco market. A recent study by the Centre for Global Health Research at the University of Toronto, Canada, states that 1 million Indians will die from smoking-related illnesses in the next 24 months.
The study (A Nationally Representative Case-Control Study of Smoking and Death in India), done by scientists from India, Canada and the UK, covered nearly 1.1 million homes across India. It found that men who smoke bidis lose six years of their life, women lose eight, and men who smoke cigarettes lose 10 years.
Initiated by the WHO in 2003, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is the only global treaty of its kind to control tobacco consumption
This is a disease burden that cannot be ignored, according to Healis from the Sekhsaria Institute of Public Health, Mumbai, whose research shows a significant causal association between bidi smoking and tuberculosis. An extensive longitudinal study carried out by Healis and an international group of researchers, between 1991 and 2003, among bidi-smoking men, showed that at least 32% of deaths due to tuberculosis could be attributed to bidi smoking.
