India Steps up campaign against use of tobacco

The Economic Time Friday, November 26, 2004, Kolkatta

India Thursday unveiled a "tobacco alert clock" to create awareness about the startling fact that two people in the country die every minute due to the deadly effects of tobacco use.

"India is losing about 800,000 to 900,000 lives a year due to tobacco," Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said while unveiling the clock being installed outside his ministry's building."At the current levels of tobacco use, the future burden of tobacco-related disease, death and disability will be even higher."

Mr. Ramadoss also released the first comprehensive report on "Tobacco control in India", highlighting the country's experience in tobacco control. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has forecast that unless India changes direction, deaths attributable to tobacco in the first two decades of this century would witness the highest rise ever. 

The variety of tobacco products and multiple methods of their use in India make the problem more complex, said Ramadoss. Though India has enacted legislation to curb use of tobacco through a check on product promotion, it is yet to make an impact as certain provisions of the law remain unimplemented, he admitted.

"We will propagate the report to emphasise the adverse impact of tobacco consumption. From Dec 1, we will strictly enforce the rule against sale of tobacco products within 100 metres of any recognised educational institute," Ramadoss told reporters.

Early next year, the minister hopes to bring into effect rules for monitoring nicotine and tar content in cigarettes, and enforcing the mandatory warning on all tobacco products about their harmful effects.

"We will strictly enforce these regulations from next year. In the case of surrogate advertisements, we are trying to give more teeth to a screening committee of the information and broadcasting ministry to monitor and take action," Ramadoss said.

Health experts at the function emphasised how smoking and oral consumption of tobacco adversely impacted the health and lifestyle of young people.

"A smoker dies much younger due to heart attacks. In the case of women, it cuts life by 16-18 years and in the case of men, up to 80 percent of cases of deaths due to heart attacks for those under 40 years of age are attributable to the habit of smoking," said K. Srinath Reddy, head of cardiology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and co-editor of the report. "Sudden cardiac death is 10 times more common among young people who are smokers," he said. He warned against heeding the tobacco industry's plea that lives of hundreds of poor people would be affected if they are forced to close shop.

IANS