‘Following a World Health Organisation advisory, the (central) government has asked all the border states of the country to carry out non-stop polio vaccination among the children entering the country,’ Tripura Health Minister Tapan Chakraborty told IANS.

He said, ‘We have already started polio vaccination among the children aged up to five years. Permanent polio vaccination centres have been set up at various check posts along the India-Bangladesh border with Tripura.’

‘Children coming into India with their parents or relatives would be administered the polio vaccine in border areas. Indian children would also be vaccinated when they enter India after visiting any country,’ said Gautam Debnath, district immunisation officer of West Tripura.

‘This year-long vaccination programme has been undertaken to declare India a polio-free nation by the next year,’ Debnath told IANS.

Though the World Health Organisation (WHO) took India off the list of polio endemic countries in February 2012, it will declare it ‘polio-free’ only if no fresh case is reported till the end of this year.

Polio (poliomyelitis) is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that invades the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis in a matter of hours.

‘The polio risk in our neighbouring countries is very high. Since the disease is very infectious, the Indian children, who are free from the ailment, can be affected while visiting such countries,’ the official added.

According to the official, large-scale population movements including children across the borders might spread the polio disease.

Polio is a crippling and potentially fatal infectious disease. There is no cure, but there are safe and effective vaccines against it. The strategy to eradicate polio is therefore based on preventing infection by immunising every child until transmission stops.

‘The organisational method has been developed in such a way that no child up to five years of age can enter India through immigration unless he or she has been administered the polio vaccine,’ Debnath added.

Quoting the directives of the union ministry of health and family welfare, the official said that permanent polio vaccination centres have either already been set up or being set up at all the check posts along the India’s border with Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan, Nepal, China, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

India has a 15,106 km land border and a 7,516 km coastline.

Are you being manipulated?

The major theme of this year’s World NoTobacco Day is ‘Ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship’. Tobacco advertising is a big issue. In the earlier decades, when bans weren’t in place, millions of impressionable youngsters were conned into smoking by tobacco companies whose ads made smoking seem synonymous with sexiness and glamour. Advertising has become far more subtle these days with outright advertising banned in most countries. Nowadays, companies are more likely to reach out the audience through surrogate ads and corporate social responsibility programmes.

• Forget Coalgate & Railgate, clamp down on Tobaccogate
• Are you being manipulated?
• WHO wants tobacco advertising banned
• B-town comes together for anti-tobacco concert
• Only way to lower use is blanket ban
• Tobacco companies reaching out to youngsters

Reasons to quit tobacco

Perhaps people fail to quit smoking because they don’t realise exactly how much harm cigarettes can cause to them. We thought we’d remind you exactly what’s in a cigarette and the harm it causes:

• Ingredients in your cigarette that are killing you
• How smoking kills your natural beauty
• 8 reasons women need to quit smoking
• Smoking and lung disease
• Dangers of passive smoking
• Smoking and heart disease
• Sex problems caused by smoking
• Stroke – A reality check for smokers

Tips to quit smoking

The reason people have trouble smoking is because of the main addictive component in smoking – nicotine. But it’s harder because tobacco addiction is like drug addiction or alcoholism and comprises a cluster of cognitive, behavioural and psychological phenomena which makes it hard to quit. One has to remember that very few people manage to quit in their first attempt. So here are the various smoking cessation techniques:

• Different ways to quit smoking
• Natural ways to quit smoking
• Electronic cigarettes – do they really work?
• Psychological counselling can help

 Smoking in India

After China, India’s home to the maximum number of tobacco users including cigarette, bidi smokers and smokeless tobacco users.  According to conservative estimates, tobacco takes 2,500 lives every day in India and kills one million Indians every year. To this effect, gutka has been officially banned in a lot of states though it’s still easily available:

Here’s more on tobacco use in India:

• Forget Coalgate & Railgate, clamp down on Tobaccogate: Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi
• How big tobacco is conning Indians
• Tobacco takes 2,500 lives in India every day
• Heart attacks, cancers on the rise in India
• Control measures could reduce smoking by 44%
• India’s gutka ban efforts

Tobacco use along with obesity are two of the biggest reasons for the various non-communicable diseases that people suffer from around the world. The Global Adult Tobacco Survey estimated that tobacco had claimed one billion lives in the last century. In comparison, humanity’s biggest war – World War II took 50 million lives. We can no longer hide from the fact that tobacco is one of the most dangerous enemies that has ever threatened mankind’s existence. So are you ready for the battle? 

‘A comprehensive ban on all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship could decrease tobacco consumption by an average of about 7 percent, with some countries experiencing a decline in consumption of up to 16 percent,’ said Samlee Plianbangchang, WHO Regional Director for Southeast Asia.

‘Our efforts should focus on preventing the youth from being exposed to all forms of tobacco advertisement, promotion and sponsorship. Enforcement of a ban on sale of tobacco to minors should also be strengthened,’ he added.

It is estimated that nearly 1.3 million people die of tobacco-related illnesses every year in Southeast Asia.

According to latest research, about one in 10 students had an object with a cigarette brand logo and one in 10 students had been offered free cigarettes by a tobacco company in the region.

Source: IANS

Tobacco is the only consumer product which is of no use and only causes death and disease in millions. It is the only industry that kills over a million Indians every year and has claimed a billion lives in the last century worldwide. Despite that, the industry continues to exist because governments around the world seem to believe that tobacco trade is a source of revenue. On the occasion of World No Tobacco Day, we talked to Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, a cancer surgeon at Mumbai’s Tata Memorial Hospital and one of the country’s foremost anti-tobacco campaigners and the driving force behind the organisation Voice of Tobacco Victims. Dr Chaturvedi recently won the prestigious Wilkenfeld award in the US for his innovative leadership in the fight to reduce tobacco use in India.

Why do you think people are unable to quit tobacco? What are the main obstacles?

People are unable to quit because of addiction to nicotine. People are dependent on it and hence it becomes difficult to quit. The effect of nicotine is widespread ranging from elevated mood, cognition and reduced fatigue. Over a period of time with continued use, the person needs more nicotine through tobacco use and hence smokes or chews more tobacco.

 How many Indians do you think are afflicted by tobacco?

In India about 275 million adults consume tobacco as per the Global Adult Tobacco Survey report 2010. Out of which 68.9 million are smokers and 163.7 million are smokeless tobacco users. 42.3 million people use both.

 Do you think we are being manipulated by the tobacco industry? How?

The tobacco industry uses strategic tactics to dilute the tobacco control policy. They see to it that policies are delayed, diluted or weakened before implementation. They promote their products either through indirect advertisements or by creating new products which will promote the brand name. They also do other things like investing in corporate social responsibility or giving out bravery awards to give the impression that they’re trying to improve society. It’s an open secret that most of the bidi and smokeless tobacco industry is run by politicians or at least has the strong support of politicians. If this wasn’t enough, it also strengthens its grip by giving huge amounts as political donations.

How does the Voice of Tobacco Victims campaign help victims and their families?

At Voice of Tobacco Victims, we empower tobacco victims and their families to use their voice to sensitize policy makes and key stakeholders for the implementation of policies. They share their stories and ask for the implementation of evidence-based policies. They aim to save others from going through the same sufferings that they underwent.

When and why did you think of this campaign?

Every single day I see a huge number of patients suffering from advanced cancers because of tobacco use, many of whom are young and middle-aged. Many of them die within a few months of diagnosis. I could not stand their suffering and remain a mute spectator of this crime against humanity. We launched the campaign in 2009 realising they needed a voice.

What was the initial reaction you received from the government?

It was an eye opener for the government. The campaign has brought about huge success at policy level. It played a major role by helping to ban the production, manufacture and sale of gutka in many states. It also played a key role in implementation of raising taxes on tobacco products.

What kind of support do you need to take this to the next level?

The government needs to be sensitive towards the human component of the tobacco business. The media should carry the stories. Doctors and NGOs should work together. Youth and children should be taught to shun tobacco. Together we can end this this terrible menace called tobacco. 

Also read: Forget Coalgate & Railgate, clamp down on Tobaccogate

May 31 is World No Tobacco Day. 

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? 

And with this background, while the nation is preoccupied with Coalgate, Railgate and IPL match-fixing, we’re completely missing out one of the greatest tragedies to afflict our nation. While most scams involve financial bungling, this scam that I like to call ‘Tobaccogate’ is causing 3,300 deaths every day.

Is the tobacco industry really benefiting people?

As per the UN Declaration 2010, there is a fundamental conflict between the interest of the tobacco industry and public health. While tobacco as a crop has no utility for mankind, we’re constantly told that if we eradicate tobacco plantations then we will rob 70 lakh people of their livelihood. But are the livelihood of those 70 lakh more important than the lives of 27 crore Indians who’re hooked to tobacco?  And it’s not as if these Indians are becoming wealthy or even earning a decent living. Almost everyone knows that the smokeless tobacco and bidi industry is run by a few politically powerful families. So while farmers, bidi rollers and vendors continue to live in abject poverty, these industrialists-turned politicians are earning vulgar profits.

Keep it away from our children

Tobacco isn’t like most people believe a matter of individual choice, it’s an addiction. The products are highly addictive and barely 2% Indians are able to quit tobacco usage after they start the habit. Most of them quit after being diagnosed with fatal illnesses like cancer and even then some of them can’t quit.  The only way forward is to strongly enforce the laws that have been created to protect children from being exposed to tobacco. Currently, 80% of tobacco shops are doing flourishing business near schools and exposed to tobacco. Hookah bars too continue to flourish with the help of the enforcement agencies. The latest modus operandi of the tobacco industry is going all-out to catch them young.

It is really unfortunate that food authorities failed to ban gutka despite the regulation that came into force in 2011 banning its production, sale and manufacture. It was a civil society agitation and support from judiciary that forced state governments to ban it all over India. But despite imposing the ban, many states are making a poor show of ban enforcement.

While it’s the true the Ministry of Health has embarked on a National Tobacco Control Program there are other ministries that are counteracting that:

• The Ministry of Commerce nurtures the Tobacco Board that promotes the growth of tobacco.
• The Ministry of Agriculture continues make tobacco farming lucrative
• The Ministry of Finance remains resistant to higher taxation on tobacco (Despite recent budget increases and higher levies, tobacco is relatively cheap in India)
• The Ministry of Home shows virtually no interest in enforcing anti-tobacco laws.
• The Ministry of Education shows little sensitivity in enforcing the policy of Tobacco Free Educational Institutions to protect children from getting hooked to tobacco.
• The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is sympathetic to the film and television industry that wants laws to suit them rather than society.
• The Ministry of Food and Drugs have shown extreme tolerance towards violation of ban on Gutka and tobacco containing Pan Masala. They are also resistant to idea of recognizing Betel Nut/Areca Nut as harmful food that is currently being marketed as a mouth freshener.

And to top it all the Central Government through the public sector Life Insurance Companies and Banks, holds nearly 25% shares of ITC Ltd, the country’s biggest cigarette manufacturer. President Pranab Mukherjee himself conferred CII’s 2012 Sustainability Award on ITC Ltd. A Padma Award was recently conferred on ITC Chairman, and Reserve Bank of India made him a member of its Board of Directors. 

With so much government backing, is it any surprise that the cigarette industry gets away with the least effective and meaningless pictorial warning in the entire world? Is it surprising that surrogate advertisement continues to make a mockery of the law? The theme this year’s campaign is ‘Ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship’. What are we doing about it? How can we expect justice in this regard when many of our cabinet ministers and opposition leaders (Members of Parliament) are legal counsels representing the tobacco industry and earning fat legal fees? How can we expect action against Tobaccogate while all political parties are being funded by huge donations from the tobacco industry?

Tobaccogate is not just a massive financial scam punching a big hole in the nation’s public health budget; it is also a huge man-made calamity killing 10 lakh Indians every year. How long can we continue to live with such a massive calamity or man-made epidemic? Does it not weigh on our collective conscience? Let us work together to bring an end to Tobaccogate before it affects our own kids.

‘Banning tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship is one of the best ways to protect young people from starting smoking as well as reducing tobacco consumption across the entire population,’ Xinhua quoted Bettcher as saying in a statement. Research shows that about one-third of youth experiment with tobacco as a result of exposure to tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. Worldwide, 78 percent of young people aged 13 to 15 have reported regular exposure to some form of tobacco advertising, according to the WHO.

Bettcher said targeting ‘women and children in developing countries’ was the ‘last frontier’ of the tobacco industry. He warned that the tobacco industry has been finding new tactics to target potential smokers, including handing out free cigarettes, using online and new media, and placement of tobacco products and brands in films and television. ‘That is why the ban has to be complete in order to be fully effective,’ he said. The WHO’s report on the global tobacco epidemic in 2011 showed that only 19 countries have reached the highest level of achievement in banning tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, while more than one third of countries have minimal or no restrictions at all.

According to the ‘2012 Global Progress Report on Implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC)’, 83 countries introduced a comprehensive ban on all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. Currently, tobacco kills nearly six million people every year and the WHO estimated that the weed will kill more than eight million by 2030. Read on to find out how you’re being manipulated by tobacco companies.

Source: IANS

 Unhealthy habits and behaviours can lead to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes and cancer, causing 36 million deaths a year, the World Health Organization, or WHO, said. Deaths related to smoking, a poor diet and bad exercise habits could rise to 55 million by 2030 if action is not taken, the WHO said.  

Source: IANS

‘People smoke, because they are not aware. They think smoking looks cool but it’s actually not so, because it finishes you from the inside. Be it cancer, your lungs or heart diseases they all are associated somewhere to excessive smoking. So what is the need to smoke? Live long, live healthy and look young and look great that’s what is important,’ said actress Raveena Tandon.

The concert was organised by the Cancer Patients Aid Association at Rangsharda in Bandra and the event was also graced by Neetu Chandra and singers like Akriti Kakkar and Vishal Dadlani.

‘We can’t go and heal them, but through our music, if we can spread some awareness and bring everybody together, to sort of at least, make them believe in the fact that we all in our little-little ways can make a difference,’ Akriti Kakkar said.

The theme of this year’s campaign is ‘Ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship’. It really is a burning issue right now and the authorities in India are also hell-bent on banning tobacco from the TVs, cinemas and other influential forms of media. There’s enough evidence to support the belief that by curtailing tobacco display from mainstream media, impressionable youngsters will avoid taking up smoking.

The WHO estimates that the tobacco industry spends billions around the year in advertising, promotion and sponsorship. In countries like ours where direct advertising is banned, the tobacco industry usually adopts a technique called ‘surrogate advertising’ in which they promote other products to drill the brand name into the consumer. The long-term goal is a total ban on direct and indirect advertising, promotion and sponsorship, as provided in guidelines to Article 13 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, can substantially reduce tobacco consumption and protect people, particularly the youth, from industry marketing tactics. To be effective, bans must be complete and apply to all marketing categories. Read on to find out how you’re being manipulated by tobacco companies.

How long will herbal products last?

Herbal products are prepared in keeping with the basic recipe provided in the reference texts of a particular system of medicine. These texts also specify how long a certain formulation will stay active. For example, Ayurvedic tablets called gutika have a shelf life of 2 years but distilled extracts called arka will last for just one year.

Coming to the use of preservatives, ideally, these ancient recipes rely on certain ingredients used in the formulation to keep the product safe and prevent its degradation. So, adding preservatives is not recommended because it is deemed unnecessary. For example, in Ayurvedic syrups, the high concentration of sugar itself acts as a preservative.

How pure are herbal products?

When it comes to herbal medicines, there are a lot of contaminants that can make their way into a product – heavy metals may find their way into the plants through the water used in irrigation or the soil in which the plants grow. Microorganisms grow better in the presence of organic matter obtained from plant and animal sources and they can contaminate the product. There may be pesticide residues that have found their way into the plant material and then, into the product. Sometimes, improper storage may lead to chemical degradation of one of the components in the herbal formulation and toxic substances may be produced.

Occasionally, an unscrupulous manufacturer may add in a less expensive substitute for a particular herb. This substitute may have similar physical appearance to the herb prescribed in the recipe, but it will obviously interfere with the product’s ability to elicit the desired therapeutic effects.

It is common knowledge that most herbal remedies take longer to act as compared to allopathic medicines; so an unprincipled manufacturer may resort to mixing in allopathic medicines into a herbal product in order to make it appear fast-acting and increase its popularity. Sometimes, inadvertent adulteration can occur because of confusion in the vernacular names of some plant sources.

In other words, manufacture of an herbal product is actually much more demanding than that of an allopathic product. Unfortunately, there has not been a very strict monitoring of the herbal drug manufacturing industry until recent times and this is responsible for the many publicised instances of contaminated herbal products.

The solution – Stricter regulations and enforcement

Over time, drug regulatory authorities have woken up to the need for standardisation of herbal products. Recognising that close to 80% of the world’s population still relies on traditional systems of medicine for their healthcare needs; the World Health Organization has specified guidelines to be followed by manufacturers to ensure they make pure herbal products of good quality.

These guidelines recommend testing for the contaminants most likely to be present in herbal products – toxic heavy metals, pesticide residues, foreign organic matter, persistent organic pollutants, residual solvents, mycotoxins, endotoxins and microbial contaminants – bacteria, molds, fungi and parasites.

There are also guidelines for Good Agricultural Practices to be followed in cultivating, harvesting and storing medicinal plants and the products they give. There is an increasing emphasis on adopting the principles of Good Manufacturing Practices in herbal drug manufacturing plants. The WHO is also urging all countries to adopt the guidelines for standardisation of their herbal products.

Are branded herbal products better?

This is a difficult question to answer. There is no guarantee that a branded herbal product is better than a non-branded one. The reverse is equally true – it is not definite that a non-branded product is of lesser quality than a branded one. Logically speaking, a manufacturer who invests in building a brand is probably more concerned about maintaining his market image (and consequently, his profits) and therefore, more likely to invest time, effort and money in ensuring his products have quality and purity. However, it is equally true that even someone who does not have a brand will still deliver effective products if he has an individual commitment to quality.

If there is one myth this discussion has cleared up, it is this – ‘herbal’ should not be read as a synonym for ‘safe’. While the medicinal components may have the advantage of negligible or no toxicity, several other factors, if not controlled with care, can convert a herbal product into an unsafe remedy. Only when the manufacturer of a herbal product is deeply committed to providing quality medicines will we have the confidence to consume such products without any qualms.

Tired of reading? Check out our YouTube Channel  

The committee is a volunteer body that is entrusted with spearheading the campaign for Rotary International in India.  Sunil Bahl, deputy project manager, National Polio Surveillance Programme, said the end strategies needed to be worked out. ‘We have to work out the end strategies. The vaccinations have to be stopped ultimately to ensure there are no cases of vaccine related infections,’ she said. Observing India’s role in guising other endemic nations in the fight against Polio, Robert Scott, chairman-International Polio Plus Committee said India has set an example for other nations.

‘Considering the demographics and sheer size of India, the programme implementation and dedication from all and the achievement is commendable. If India can do it for Polio, so can the others. India is a shining example and the endemic nations are looking up to it for lessons and best practices,’ Scott said.

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), a public-private partnership led by national governments and spearheaded by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Rotary International, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has recently presented a six-year plan, ’2013-2018 Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan’.

Public health experts have said: If the polio eradication campaign succeeds, the world would not only declare it the second disease to be eradicated after smallpox but it would also save billions of dollars, not to mention saving millions of children from a crippling future. 

A 2010 analysis found that if polio transmission was to be stopped by 2015, the net benefit from reduced treatment costs and productivity gains would be about $40 billion to $50 billion by 2035.

Speaking at the meeting, Additional Secretary and Mission Director (National Rural Health Mission) Anuradha Gupta stressed upon the importance of routine immunisation in preventing Polio and other childhood diseases.

Source: IIANS