Women smokers are on the rise. Here are some facts you didn’t know about women and smoking:  

About 200 million of the world’s one billion smokers are women

Far fewer women than men use tobacco. Globally, about 40% of men smoke as compared with nearly 9% of women. However, the epidemic of tobacco use among women is increasing in some countries. More research is needed to understand trends in tobacco use among women.

As many girls as boys now smoke in some countries

A WHO survey of smoking trends in youths showed that in half of the 151 countries surveyed, similar numbers of girls and boys smoked. Evidence suggests that most of these girls and boys will continue to smoke into adulthood. Bans on tobacco advertising, as called for in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, could help to stop the increase in tobacco use among girls.

Boys and girls start using tobacco for different reasons

Many more girls than boys smoke in the false belief that it is a good way to control weight. Low self-esteem is associated with smoking among girls, and available evidence from some developed countries shows that girls have lower self-esteem than boys. Tobacco control strategies must recognize that boys’ and girls’ decisions to start using tobacco are influenced by different cultural, psychosocial and socioeconomic factors.

Every year, 1.5 million women die from tobacco use

Of the more than 5 million people who die every year from tobacco use, approximately 1.5 million are women. Most (75%) of these women live in low- and middle-income countries. Unless urgent action is taken, tobacco use could kill up to 8 million people every year by 2030, of which 2.5 million would be women.

Women are one of the biggest targets of the tobacco industry

The tobacco industry gears richly-funded marketing campaigns towards women through advertisements that draw on gender stereotypes and falsely link tobacco use to concepts of beauty, prestige and freedom. The industry actively targets women because comparatively few women currently use tobacco, and women are increasingly able to afford tobacco.

More women than men smoke “light” cigarettes

Marketing strategies lure consumers with misleading categories, such as “light” or “low tar”. More women than men smoke “light” cigarettes (63% versus 46%), often in the mistaken belief that “light” means “safer”. In fact, “light” smokers often engage in compensatory smoking, inhaling more deeply and more frequently to absorb the desired amount of nicotine.

Tobacco use harms women differently from men

Women who smoke are more likely than those who do not to experience infertility and delays in conceiving. Smoking during pregnancy increases risks of premature delivery, stillbirth and newborn death, and may cause a reduction in breast milk. Smoking increases women’s risk for cancer of the cervix.

Women constitute 64% of deaths from second-hand smoke

Worldwide, second-hand smoke causes 430 000 adult deaths per year. Sixty-four per cent of these deaths occur in women. In some countries, second-hand smoke is a greater threat to women than the possibility that women might start using tobacco. More than 90% of the world’s population is still not covered by comprehensive national smoke-free laws.

People who smoke should avoid exposing the people with whom they live and work to second-hand smoke

Women and children often lack power to negotiate smoke-free spaces, including in their homes, in their workplaces and in other public spaces. Everyone, regardless of age or sex, should be protected from second-hand smoke.

Controlling tobacco use among women is an important part of any tobacco control strategy

Tobacco prevention and cessation programmes should be integrated into maternal, child and reproductive health services. Warnings about the harmful effects of tobacco must take into account that illiteracy is higher among women than men, and should use clear pictures to ensure that those who cannot read are also able to understand the health risks of tobacco use.

Read more about World No Tobacco Day:

• Quit smoking or die!
• Shaan’s “Life Se Panga” anti-smoking song
• Health benefits of quitting
• Did you know smoking can give you heart disease and strokes?
• 200,000 children die from passive smoking every year!
• WHO urges governments to watch out for tobacco industry interference
• Smoking okay on-screen, not in real life says Bollywood
• Heart attacks, cancer on the rise in young smokers
• Want to quit tobacco? Here’s a helpline to your rescue!
• Are tobacco-less e-cigarettes less harmful?
• 10 facts about passive smoking

 Content Courtesy: WHO

1. Second-hand smoke is the smoke that fills restaurants, offices or other enclosed spaces when people burn tobacco products such as cigarettes, bidis and water pipes. Everyone is exposed to its harmful effects.
2. Guidelines to Article 8 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control state that there is “no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke”. Creating 100% smoke-free environments is the only way to protect people from the harmful effects of second-hand tobacco smoke.
3. Second-hand smoke causes 600,000 premature deaths per year. There are more than 4000 chemicals in tobacco smoke, of which at least 250 are known to be harmful and more than 50 are known to cause cancer.
4. In adults, second-hand smoke causes serious cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, including coronary heart disease and lung cancer. In infants, it causes sudden death. In pregnant women, it causes low birth weight.
5. Separate or ventilated smoking areas do not protect non-smokers from second-hand smoke. Second-hand smoke can spread from a smoking area to a non-smoking area, even if the doors between the two areas are closed and even if ventilation is provided. Only 100% smoke-free environments provide effective protection.
6. About 40% of all children are regularly exposed to second-hand smoke at home. Thirty-one per cent of the deaths attributable to second-hand smoke occur in children.
7. Youths exposed to second-hand smoke at home are one-and-a-half to two times more likely to start smoking than those not exposed.
8. Ten per cent of the economic costs related to tobacco use are attributable to second-hand smoke. Tobacco use imposes both direct economic costs on society, such as those associated with treating tobacco-related diseases and indirect costs, such as those associated with reduced productivity or lost wages because of death or illness.
9. More than 94% of people are unprotected by smoke-free laws. However, in 2008 the number of people protected from second-hand smoke by such laws increased by 74% to 362 million from 208 million in 2007. Of the 100 most populous cities, 22 are smoke-free.
10. Through the tobacco control package called MPOWER, WHO helps countries to implement the provisions of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to protect people from second-hand smoke.

Read more about World No Tobacco Day:

• Quit smoking or die!
• Shaan’s “Life Se Panga” anti-smoking song
• Health benefits of quitting
• Did you know smoking can give you heart disease and strokes?
• 200,000 children die from passive smoking every year!
• WHO urges governments to watch out for tobacco industry interference
• Smoking okay on-screen, not in real life says Bollywood
• Heart attacks, cancer on the rise in young smokers
• Want to quit tobacco? Here’s a helpline to your rescue!
• Women and smoking
• Are tobacco-less e-cigarettes less harmful?

Content Courtesy: WHO

Operational guidelines for NTCP released Thursday emphasise on “synergising” NTCP with the NRHM at state and district levels. 

“For capacity building of state/district, awareness generation through mass media, and monitoring/enforcement of anti-tobacco law, states must explore the possibilities of integrating it as a part of the NRHM activities and through the existing state health care delivery mechanism,” the guidelines said. 

It has also advocated involving workforce under other non-communicable disease programmes for prevention of cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and strokes, in the tobacco control programme. 

The guidelines say it is being done as tobacco has been identified as the reason behind several communicable and non-communicable diseases. 

The guidelines were released on World No-Tobacco Day. 

World Health Organisation India representative Nata Menabde stressed that tobacco lobbies needed to be fought to control tobacco.

“The economic returns from tobacco industry has been overrated while the loss of productivity, and social cost of tobacco is ignored… the struggle against tobacco lobbies will be tougher,” she said on the sidelines of a function to release the guidelines. 

Read more about World No Tobacco Day:

• Quit smoking or die!
• Shaan’s “Life Se Panga” anti-smoking song
• Health benefits of quitting
• Did you know smoking can give you heart disease and strokes?
• 200,000 children die from passive smoking every year!
• WHO urges governments to watch out for tobacco industry interference
• Smoking okay on-screen, not in real life says Bollywood
• Heart attacks, cancer on the rise in young smokers
• Want to quit tobacco? Here’s a helpline to your rescue!
• Women and smoking
• Are tobacco-less e-cigarettes less harmful?

Source: IANS

May 31 is World No Tobacco Day. The theme for WHO’s World No Tobacco Day this year is ‘tobacco industry interference’. The campaign looks to focus on the need to expose and counter the tobacco industry’s brazen and increasingly aggressive attempts to undermine the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) because of the serious danger they pose to public health. Tobacco use is one of the leading preventable causes of death. The global tobacco epidemic kills nearly 6 million people each year, of which more than 600,000 are people exposed to second-hand smoke. Unless we act, it will kill up to 8 million people by 2030, of which more than 80% will live in low- and middle-income countries.

 As more and more countries move to fully meet their obligations under the WHO FCTC, the tobacco industry’s efforts to undermine the treaty are becoming more and more energetic. For example, in an attempt to halt the adoption of pictorial health warnings on packages of tobacco, the industry recently adopted the novel tactic of suing countries under bilateral investment treaties, claiming that the warnings impinge the companies’ attempts to use their legally-registered brands.

Meanwhile, the industry’s attempts to undermine the treaty continue on other fronts, particularly with regard to countries’ attempts to ban smoking in enclosed public places and to ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. World No Tobacco Day 2012 will educate policy-makers and the general public about the tobacco industry’s nefarious and harmful tactics. It will also be in keeping with the letter and the spirit of the WHO FCTC. The preamble of the treaty recognizes “the need to be alert to any efforts by the tobacco industry to undermine or subvert tobacco control efforts and the need to be informed of activities of the tobacco industry that have a negative impact on tobacco control efforts”.

 In addition, Article 5.3 of the treaty states that “in setting and implementing their public health policies with respect to tobacco control, Parties shall act to protect these policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry in accordance with national law”. Furthermore, the guidelines to the implementation of Article 5.3 state that Parties are recommended to “raise awareness about…tobacco industry interference with Parties’ tobacco control policies”.

 On World No Tobacco Day 2012, and throughout the following year, WHO urges countries to put the fight against tobacco industry interference at the heart of their efforts to control the global tobacco epidemic.

Content Courtesy: WHO

The decision to quit smoking is the most important decision of you life. It is not easy by any means but it can be done. Think about the following points before we get to the action plan:

1. What was your reason of starting to smoke, the first time ever?
2. How many cigarettes do you smoke in a day?
3. When are the times when you feel the urge to smoke?
4. Where do you buy your usual stock of cigarettes from?
5. Do you smoke alone or with company?
6. Do your family/ loved ones know you smoke? 

The Quit Smoking Campaign

1. Reduce the number of cigarettes to absolute necessities (the numbers and times can be derived from question 2 & 3 above).
2. The urge to smoke is usually after a meal or a stressful situation. When your system gets its daily prescribed dose, it gets tuned to the number of nicotine doses. The other times when you would smoke are usually excuses.
3. Create a proper ‘quit smoking’ plan. Instead of suddenly cutting off entirely one fine day, make a plan to reduce gradually – from two packets to one packet in the first 15 days, from one packet to around five in the next 15 and so on. 
4. Let people around you know that you’re trying to quit (the list of people as derived from questions 4,5 & 6 above). Letting your friends, family (in case they know) and even your regular paanwala (seller) about your decision to quit smoking is a good idea if you don’t trust yourself. They can keep a tab on your impulses.
5. Ditch your usual smoking-friends ring their smoke breaks. Don’t try to be brave by being an observer in your group. You can always catch up with chit-chat with the same group later.
6. You might have started smoking as a habit as a result of peer pressure, to help cope with some stress or to experience something exciting. Talk yourself out of the core reason for starting to smoke.
7. You can try a nicotine substitute; some even try chewing gum, mint, chocolate or food (although that can be addictive too). A dummy mint cigarette often acts as a psychological comfort. 
8. Nicotine curbs hunger by constantly releasing stored fats and sugar into blood. So, when you are trying to quit, you should have more frequent, small meals so that the hunger doesn’t add to the withdrawal symptoms.
9. Nicotine is alkaloid. To counteract this, you should drink acidic juices for the first 3-4 days. This will help you get nicotine out of your system.
10. Reward yourself after every milestone -maybe every 15 days or a month. Remember the reward cannot be a pack of cigarettes!

What to expect

1. Withdrawal – symptoms like headaches, stomach cramps, parched throat, even nausea can occur during the withdrawal phase. Consult your physician to deal with severe symptoms.
2. Craving – the urge to smoke might be overpowering. An effective distraction and a good support system will help you get through this phase.
3. Mood changes – the alterations you are making in your system cause many physical and hence emotional changes. Emotional symptoms may include irritability, restlessness, anxiety pangs and distress.  
4. Change of mind – giving up is always easier than holding on. Trust your decision. It is definitely one of the better ones.

So this World Cancer Day take a pledge to kick the butt, not only for yourself but for all your loved ones. Smoking is not cool and you know it.

• Shaan’s “Life Se Panga” anti-smoking song
• Health benefits of quitting
• Did you know smoking can give you heart disease and strokes?
• 200,000 children die from passive smoking every year!
• WHO urges governments to watch out for tobacco industry interference
• Smoking okay on-screen, not in real life says Bollywood
• Heart attacks, cancer on the rise in young smokers
• Want to quit tobacco? Here’s a helpline to your rescue!
• Women and smoking
• Are tobacco-less e-cigarettes less harmful?
• 10 facts about passive smoking

Passive smoking, often dubbed the ‘silent killer’, is more dangerous than you believe and the complications it creates have gone up like never before. ”Passive smoking is little talked about. But it’s critical. Getting exposed to second-hand smoke is just as bad as active smoking and passive smokers often suffer from lung problems, breathlessness and allergies,” Ravindra L. Kulkarni, a cardiologist and director of Just for Hearts, an organisation for heart care and lifestyle management, told IANS.

The first global study on passive smoking estimated that it causes 600,000 deaths every year. One-third of those killed are children who are often exposed to smoke at home, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated. ”Just by getting yourself exposed to smoke, you unknowingly expose yourself to all kinds of health problems. Women and children are especially vulnerable,” Amol Akhade, a consultant medical oncologist at International Oncology Services, told IANS. According to experts, a smoker’s exhaled smoke is called exhaled mainstream smoke. The smoke drifting from their lit cigarette is called sidestream smoke. The combination of mainstream and sidestream smoke is called second-hand smoke (SHS) or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS).

Most of the smoke that hangs in a room is sidestream smoke, which contains higher levels of cancer-causing compounds than mainstream smoke. ”Second-hand smoke is a common indoor pollutant at homes… sometimes because of reasons beyond your control, like a guest smoking, or smoke drifting in from outside. Children in particular are at risk of serious health effects from second-hand smoke,” said Aarti Goyal, a health activist.

According to Kulkarni, there have been rising number of asthma-like cases and of allergic reactions because of passive smoking. ”One of the biggest disadvantage of tackling passive smoking is that it is not visible, unlike active smoking,” he said. ”There are not as many studies done of how many people are affected by it. But from the cases that we get, we have seen that people exposed to smoke sometimes suffer from allergic reactions and it is worse for those with lung problems and asthma,” he said. Irritation of the eyes, nose and throat are some of the other complaints. Passive smokers have a higher risk of heart diseases, doctors say. So if you smoke and your spouse does not, beware. Studies also show that long-term exposure to second-hand smoke can increase the chances of lung cancer by 20-30 percent. Chances of artheosclerosis, or narrowing of the arteries, also increases in cases of long-term exposure to second-hand smoke.

While measures have been adopted to curb the ill-effects of smoking by means of putting a law in place that bans smoking in public places, poor implementation remains a problem. ”The risk of passive smoking is rising rapidly among the urban population. Banning smoking is one of the strategies to minimise the bad effects, but implementation is a major issue,” Akhade said. ”The high pollution level increases the risk more,” said Kulkarni. Spreading awareness may be a way to curb the problem. Anoop Jain, an occasional smoker, for instance, had no idea about the harms of passive smoking. ”I smoke occasionally when I am under stress. I know it is harmful to my health, but I had no idea that it was so harmful to my family too,” he said. ”It is especially scary that our kids get exposed to so much second-hand smoke every day! At home, the situation is under our control, but what about outside?” asked Rani Mehra, a mother of two school-going children. 

Also read: 10 facts you didn’t know about passive smoking

Source: IANS

A study published by the journal Tobacco Control found that if nations immediately implemented the proven, cost-effective tobacco control policies called for by the World Health Organization, they would reduce global adult smoking rates by 44 percent in 20 years.  Such a decline would save tens of millions of lives from premature, tobacco-related deaths.

No other public health measures have the potential to save so many lives in such a short time.  These findings are a powerful reminder to governments that we know how to dramatically reduce tobacco use, the world’s number one cause of preventable death.  It should spur nations to redouble their efforts to implement the life-saving measures called for by the international tobacco control treaty, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. 

In 2008, the WHO identified a package of cost-effective tobacco control measures called for by the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Called the MPOWER package, these measures have been proven to reduce tobacco use and should be implemented in every nation. These solutions require nations to enact comprehensive smoke-free laws; help tobacco users to quit; ban all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorships; implement graphic health warnings on tobacco products; and raise the price of tobacco products by significantly increasing tobacco taxes.

However, the results of the study indicate that while the adoption of the MPOWER package would save tens of millions of lives, governments must continue to develop and adopt new tobacco control measures and must raise taxes more than the study projects in order to eliminate the death and disease caused by tobacco use

The new study compared what would happen from 2010 to 2030 if countries did nothing more to implement the MPOWER measures and if countries had fully implemented MPOWER as of 2010. It found starkly different results:

• If countries did nothing more, the global tobacco epidemic would continue to grow. The global number of smokers would increase by 10 percent, from around 794 million in 2010 to 872 million smokers worldwide by 2030.
• If countries immediately implemented these solutions, the global adult smoking rate would decline by 44 percent from 23.7 percent of the population smoking in 2010 to13.2 percent in 2030.  The number of smokers worldwide would fall to 523 million.

Over the next 20 years, full implementation of the MPOWER strategies can reduce the number of smokers by 349 million; from a projected 872 million if nothing more is done to 523 million.  As half of lifetime smokers die of tobacco-related diseases, this would save tens of millions of lives.  
Implementation of the MPOWER package will reduce smoking in every region of the world. In Africa, for example, implementation of these policies can prevent the tobacco epidemic from exploding in a region targeted by the tobacco industry as a market for huge potential growth and where smoking rates will increase over the next 20 years without strong action by governments.

Governments must act now to reduce the devastating global consequences of tobacco products on health, lives and economies.

Read more about World No Tobacco Day:

• Quit smoking or die!
• Shaan’s “Life Se Panga” anti-smoking song
• Health benefits of quitting
• Did you know smoking can give you heart disease and strokes?
• 200,000 children die from passive smoking every year!
• WHO urges governments to watch out for tobacco industry interference
• Smoking okay on-screen, not in real life says Bollywood
• Heart attacks, cancer on the rise in young smokers
• Want to quit tobacco? Here’s a helpline to your rescue!
• Women and smoking
• Are tobacco-less e-cigarettes less harmful?
• 10 facts about passive smoking

Courtesy: Tobaccofreekids

Abhishek Shetty led the typical life of a young employee in an IT company. A regular smoker, the 32-year-old had a hectic schedule, odd sleeping hours and irregular meals – all of which caught up with him, and he suffered a heart attack at what his doctor called a “shockingly young age”.

“Five years back such cases were unheard of. But increasingly, we have young people coming to us with cardiac problems. It’s a serious problem and smoking is a major factor,” Ravindra L. Kulkarni, cardiologist and director of Just for Hearts, an organisation for heart care, told IANS.

“Abhishek’s is a case in point. A study of his case revealed that he led a very stressful life, thanks to the nature of his work. To add to that, he smoked regularly to relieve his stress. Ultimately he had a cardiac arrest,” Kulkarni added.

An angiography revealed a blockage in one of Shetty’s main arteries, for which an angioplasty had to be done. He has now changed his lifestyle completely. 

Cardiac ailments have become an increasingly common feature among people as young as in their late 20s and early 30s, and smoking is found to be one of the main contributing factors. 

“Health problems that you would have normally seen in people in their sixties – like those related to the heart or lungs – you see them in young people in the age group of 30-35 these days. It’s an unhealthy trend, to say the least,” said Suchetna Das, a cardiologist.

According to Kulkarni, in the past few years there has been a 30-40 percent rise in cardiac related ailments amongst those below the age of 40. Among his patients, 30-40 percent are heavy smokers. 

A number of young patients are those in high-stress and sedentary lifestyle jobs, like in BPOs and the IT sector.

Studies reveal that peer pressure and curiosity are the two most common reasons for a person to take up smoking. Most smokers also claim their regular dose of puff is a stress relaxant. 

“A number of young women also take up smoking to reduce weight. The idea is that nicotine affects the appetite… you don’t feel hungry, eat less and thus lose weight. Not only is it an unhealthy way to reduce weight, but also you hardly realise when the trick becomes an addiction,” Das said. 

Doctors say that most ailments begin with high blood pressure (BP). 

There has been a 20-25 percent rise among youngsters complaining of high blood pressure. So, if you are young and suddenly witness high BP, it may be wise to see your doctor, said Kulkarni.

Some of the common health problems that young people are being detected with are coronary artery disease (CAD), diabetes and high blood pressure. 

Not just that. Oncologists reveal that there has been a rise in cancer cases as well because of increased tobacco usage.

“Cancer, like throat cancer, among youngsters is on the rise. And exposure to tobacco in various forms is the main culprit behind this trend,” Amol Akhade, consultant oncologist at International Oncology Services, told IANS.

Sharing a smoke in hip hookah joints which are mushrooming in cities like Delhi, is another popular lifestyle trend that is simply adding to the problem, Akhade said.

“The trend of smoking hookah is adding to the risk (of cancer) and both men and women are equally at risk,” he added.

Besides strict implementation of the law that bans smoking in public places, doctors also suggest initiation of Workplace Health Promotion Programmes.

“Companies should take up the responsibility of making their employees aware of a healthy lifestyle and about the ill effects of smoking. Ultimately, a healthy, young workforce works for the best for the company,” Kulkarni said.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), tobacco usage kills at least five million people every year.

Read more about World No Tobacco Day:

• Quit smoking or die!
• Shaan’s “Life Se Panga” anti-smoking song
• Health benefits of quitting
• Did you know smoking can give you heart disease and strokes?
• 200,000 children die from passive smoking every year!
• WHO urges governments to watch out for tobacco industry interference
• Smoking okay on-screen, not in real life says Bollywood
• Heart attacks, cancer on the rise in young smokers
• Want to quit tobacco? Here’s a helpline to your rescue!
• Women and smoking
• Are tobacco-less e-cigarettes less harmful?
• 10 facts about passive smoking

Source: IANS

Does smoking on screen harm youth? Some feel depicting actors smoking in films and TV shows can affect young, impressionable minds, but others do not agree with this. ”Youth consider celebrities as role models and when they see actors smoking on the screen, it affects them more. If a youth does not start smoking before the age of 22, he doesn’t get into it,” Anita Peter, director of the Cancer Patients Aid Association (CPAA), told IANS.

A statutory warning on a cigarette pack or running a statutory warning during smoking scenes in films is not enough, says Karan Malhotra, director of “Agneepath”. ”Just by putting a sticker of ‘Smoking Kills’ on a product is not good enough. Besides, I think it’s futile (to put a statutory warning). It is not required. It will not do anything good or bad for a smoker. It just doesn’t make any sense,” Malhotra told IANS.

Tobacco use is estimated to have caused nearly 120,000 deaths across India in 2010, according to research carried out by the Toronto-based Centre for Global Health Research (CGHR) in partnership with Mumbai’s Tata Memorial Hospital.

If psychiatrist Samir Parikh is to be believed, smoking on screen can affect young minds.

“It is a statistically established fact that observational learning plays a very important role in the growing up years of children. So there are no two ways that smoking on screen influences children to try it,” said Parikh, director, Mental Health and Behavioural Sciences, Fortis Healthcare.

“If they hero-worship an actor and if the actor is shown smoking, it increases the chances that youngsters will do the same. The entertainment industry needs to impose self-censorship about what to show and what not to show.

“They can reduce the number of smoking scenes unless it is very essential to show it. And on their part, they should, without the pressure of any outside body, spread awareness about the negative effects of activities like smoking,” he added.

Filmmaker Sriram Raghavan agrees that “smoking is bad” in real life but doesn’t support the idea of banning it in movies.

“In movies, it is fine. This is what I feel. I am not for a ban on smoking scenes in films. It depends on the character. I won’t make a character smoke a cigarette just because it looks cool,” said the director, known for films like “Johnny Gaddar” and “Karthik Calling Karthik”.

Musician Loy Mendonsa of composer trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy understands “it is difficult to get off tobacco once you are used to it and it’s a good thing to be healthy” but dismisses the argument that Bollywood motivates youngsters to smoke.

“I don’t think people follow something just because someone is doing it in movies. If you see Superman running in front of a train or a bus in a film, logically, you will not follow him. There might be rare cases, but generally it doesn’t happen. If someone does it, it’s very stupid,” he said.

In reel or real life, smoking is not good in any form and actor Eesha Koppikar vehemently opposes tobacco use.

“Consumption of tobacco in any form is one of the worst things that a person can indulge in. The sad part being that despite knowing its ill effects, people still smoke. I urge all youngsters to kick the death stick and live a healthy and long life. And for those who think smoking is cool, it’s anything but that,” she said.

Tobacco is one of the worst kinds of addiction, feels actor Ashmit Patel and adds that it should “be in the list of scheduled drugs”.

“I support an anti-tobacco NGO called Salaam Bombay Foundation and even ran a marathon for them this year,” said Ashmit, who has smoked on screen, but says he will always make sure his characters never glorify smoking.

Read more about World No Tobacco Day:

• Quit smoking or die!
• Shaan’s “Life Se Panga” anti-smoking song
• Health benefits of quitting
• Did you know smoking can give you heart disease and strokes?
• 200,000 children die from passive smoking every year!
• WHO urges governments to watch out for tobacco industry interference
• Heart attacks, cancer on the rise in young smokers
• Want to quit tobacco? Here’s a helpline to your rescue!
• Women and smoking
• Are tobacco-less e-cigarettes less harmful?
• 10 facts about passive smoking

Source: IANS

May 31 is World No Tobacco Day. 

The theme for World Tobacco Day 2012 is Tobacco industry interference. The World Health Organisation (WHO) urged governments in Southeast Asia to beware of the tobacco industry’s interference in tobacco control programme by targeting the youths through increased advertising budgets in several countries. 
On the occasion of World No Tobacco Day May 31 (Thursday), the WHO said that as countries move to meet their obligations under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the tobacco industry is becoming more aggressive in its attempts to undermine the treaty by acting against the policies contained in it.

“The industry is targeting the youth through increased advertising budgets in several countries of the WHO Southeast Asia Region. One in ten school students are offered free samples of tobacco products,” the WHO said in a message.

The tobacco industry has sued central and local governments over the pictorial warnings on cigarette packets, claiming that they infringe on the industry’s rights to use their legally-registered brands and freedom of speech.

The Global Adult Tobacco Survey shows that health warnings are effective and a large number of tobacco users noticed the warnings and thought of quitting.

“Governments must protect people’s health from tobacco use and be vigilant about the tobacco industry’s interference in tobacco control measures,” said Samlee Plianbangchang, WHO regional director for Southeast Asia.

According to the WHO, India and Indonesia are among the top ten tobacco leaf producers in the world. In addition, the region is one of the largest producers of smokeless tobacco products.

Ninety percent of global smokeless tobacco users live in Southeast Asia. The sale of smokeless tobacco products in India increased by over 25 percent between 2005 and 2010, it added.

Source: IANS