WORLD ANTI TOBACCO DAY- 31 MAY,2011

World No Tobacco Day

(31 May 2011)

        On 31st May each year WHO celebrates World No Tobacco Day, highlighting the health risks associated with tobacco use and advocating for effective policies to reduce consumption. Tobacco use is the second cause of death globally (after hypertension) and is currently responsible for killing one in 10 adults worldwide. The World Health Assembly created World No Tobacco Day in 1987 to draw global attention to the tobacco epidemic and its lethal effects. It provides an opportunity to highlight specific tobacco control messages and to promote adherence to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Tobacco use is the number one preventable epidemic that the health community faces.

Smoking is the most common form of tobacco abuse all over the world. However in our country, smokeless tobacco use is more common. Smokeless tobacco products eg: paan, gutka etc consist of tobacco or a tobacco blend that's chewed, sucked on or sniffed, rather than smoked. Chewing tobacco is made of tobacco, nicotine, sweeteners and chemicals.
Cigarettes contain more than 4,800 chemicals - 69 of these are known to cause cancer. Nicotine is a highly addictive drug, which on inhalation, reaches the brain faster than any injectable drug, including heroin. Smoking causes diseases in nearly every organ of the body and is responsible for a number of serious illnesses including obstructive Lung disease, Heart disease, High blood pressure, Gum disease, Peptic ulcer, Infertility, Cataracts and most importantly, cancer of almost every organ. Tobacco use by pregnant women can be hazardous to the unborn child.
If you thought smokeless tobacco is safer than cigarettes, you are wrong. Apart from all the hazards that can be caused by smoked tobacco, tobacco chewing can cause bad breath, cracking and bleeding lips and gums, receding gums, which can eventually make your teeth fall out, many pre-cancerous conditions of the oral cavity and throat and cancer in many organs. Eighty percent of people, who consume tobacco, start first when they're teenagers. Kids are picking up smoking at the alarming rate of 80,000 to 100,000 a day worldwide and one in five teens age 13 to 15 smoke cigarettes. If you have one or more of the following symptoms, you may be suffering from a serious tobacco related health hazard and warrants a visit to a physician - a sore, an ulcer or a lump in the mouth that does not heal, a prolonged sore throat, difficulty in chewing or swallowing, restricted movement of the tongue or jaws, persistent cough or breathlessness.
The only way to avoid the health hazards of tobacco is to quit completely or to never start. Quitting tobacco has immediate and long-term benefits, reducing risks for diseases caused by smoking and improving health in general. Currently, there are many medications to help people quit. Since quitting tobacco often requires multiple attempts, the most important part is self motivation and the determination to quit.

By quitting tobacco today, you can assure a healthier tomorrow for you and the society. Tobacco offers us a life of slavery, a host of chronic, debilitating illnesses and ultimately death

“Every year, this time, we have been saying the same thing. Nothing much has changed. It is necessary to have definite goals and work together. The community, family members of patients and cancer survivors themselves have to push governments to act,” says Dr. Shanta.

The thrust should be on prevention of non-communicable diseases and preventing youngsters from acquiring the tobacco habit. About 40 per cent of all cancers are tobacco-related and all preventive measures for common cancers are so simple that all it takes is moderate lifestyle modifications.  The situation is alarming enough to warrant strict action, T.G. Sagar, director, Cancer Institute, says. About 10 million new cancer patients emerge every year, 50 per cent of them from developing countries. Significantly, 85 per cent of the cases are caused not by genetics but environmental factors, which can be changed. Government spending on tobacco-related conditions is much more than the revenue from selling tobacco products.According to the Global Adult Tobacco Study, over 35 per cent of adults in India use some form of tobacco or the other, Arvind Krishnamurthy, consultant surgical oncologist, Cancer Institute, says.

     The harsh fact is that the incidence of tobacco habit has been increasing by four per cent every year. Going by this, the number of deaths will double by 2020 if the nation carries on at the current rate without intervention. E. Vidhubala, head, department of psycho-oncology, and Resource Centre for Tobacco Control, Cancer Institute, says in Tamil Nadu, despite a strong demand to increase taxation on tobacco products, the tax was lowered on gutka products and cigarettes and beedis were exempted completely in 2006. Weak enforcement of the FCTC combined with pro-tobacco measures such as this is responsible for the increasing consumption of tobacco products in the country.

World No Tobacco Day (also popularly known as World Tobacco Day and Anti Tobacco Day) is observed worldwide on 31st May every year. Kottaarakara based Kurakar comrade study unit &Gandheeya Nava Shakthy Sanghom observed Anti Tobacco day on 31^st May,2011 at Kurakar Center. Prof. John Kurakar, President, Gangheeya Nava Sakthi Sanghom presided. Mr Sam Kurakar, Managing Director, Comrade Info systems, Mr Manu Kurakar, secretary Kurakar Comrade study center, Mr Balan Nair, Dr Manju Kurakar, Mr Sadasivan Nair, Dr Kareem Y.S were spoke on the occasion.

                                                                                                     Prof. John Kurakar