A lifetime of ‘no tobacco’ needed

The World No Tobacco day is once again upon us to remind us politely that health is a concern of everyone. From personal physical fitness to the threats posed by growing global pandemics, all people share an interest in improving the well being of themselves and others.

Real, sincere and ongoing action is needed to achieve this, instead of mere rhetoric. The war against tobacco needs to be won, and not just fought, with renewed pledges; stricter legislation; innovative awareness programs; and the will to succeed in curbing the menace of tobacco.

It is easy to reel off statistics about the health hazards of tobacco consumption — tobacco consumption is a leading cause of death among Indians aged 30-69 and 1 million Indians die from smoking-related diseases each year in India; among all women, 11 percent (over 54 million women) use some form of tobacco; approximately 1 in 20 (or 90,000) deaths among women 35-69 years old can be attributed to smoking; tobacco use causes lung and other cancers, respiratory/heart disease, heart attacks, and other diseases; smokeless tobacco causes oral cancer, pancreatic cancer, increased blood pressure/heart rate and adverse reproductive outcomes; consumption of smokeless tobacco during pregnancy decreases gestational age at birth and decreases birth weight...... The list can go on and on.

But does it really cut any ice with the users? Perhaps, since the times of Adam and Eve, the forbidden fruit seems to be the sweetest. So it is with tobacco and its many variants. Very often my smoker friends argue that the state has no right to take away their freedom of smoking or chewing tobacco. They should be free to eat, drink, smoke, whatever they like. Even if one concedes their argument about freedom to make personal choices, they need to be reminded that one’s freedom is only acceptable as long as it does not curb the freedom of others.

So the government has every right to curb their freedom of smoking in public places to prevent innocent nonsmokers from becoming victims. Even within homes, children and family members are, very often, subjected to passive smoking of their elders, spouses and/or other smoker relatives. So, all those who value their freedom to smoke, will have to respect the freedom of others too. Beyond this, we can let it be the smokers’ choice to lead a healthy life or inch toward disaster in isolation. We can only counsel such diehards, who are bent upon committing death by tobacco.

Again, the duty of the state is not merely to enact sensible laws for tobacco control, but also enforce them strictly — something which is shamefully lacking in India. We have wonderful laws, but just on paper. To find the ground reality, some students of Class XII of Loreto Convent College, recently did a random survey of the city of Lucknow, as part of their Environmental Education Project. They surveyed 200 persons (150 males and 50 females) of various age groups, and coming from different strata of society — from rickshaw pullers to executives.

They traversed the entire city clicking photographs of shops/kiosks selling cigarettes and other tobacco products much within 100m range of educational institutions. They searched in vain, for signage in schools/colleges proclaiming that smoking is prohibited in the premises. They examined the tobacco/gutkha pouches for the information printed on them, and even posed as customers and easily bought cigarette and tobacco packs, despite being less than 18 years of age.

I am tempted here to mention some of their findings, which point directly to the shabby manner in which the laws are enforced:

Although a large majority of the respondents (98.5 percent) had heard anti-tobacco messages on television/radio, yet more than 70 percent of the males and 50 percent females surveyed were found to be users of tobacco products.

Forty-one percent of the respondents confessed to have smoked in public places, but surprisingly 94 percent of the offenders were neither checked nor fined for this violation. More than 29 percent respondents said that there was no ban on smoking at their workplace.

Out of all the minors surveyed (males and females), 81 percent of the males and 33 percent of the females were tobacco users. 76 percent of the people felt that it was very easy for minors to buy tobacco. In fact, more than 51 percent of the respondents had bought tobacco products from minors, at some time or the other.

Seventy-eight percent of the people said that they had seen tobacco shops within 100 yards radius of schools and colleges. Out of the 36 city schools/colleges that the students personally visited, 30 had one or more shops selling cigarettes and tobacco products, in some cases right next to their entry gates.

Out of the 20 gutkha packets of different brands studied by the students, 7 were known to be regularly advertised on television, radio, cinema halls. Only 12 gutkha brands had mentioned some alluring descriptors. The nicotine and tar content was not mentioned on any cigarette/tobacco pack.