Manzoor A. Naik
Smoking is a world wide hazard. It is a single most important cause of preventable premature death. According to World Health Organisation (WHO), there are about 1.3 billion smokers in the world. Twenty billion cigarettes are sold every day. Smoking is declining in United States and many other western countries over the last three decades but on the other hand it is on the rise in the developing countries like India, Pakistan, Phillipine and Combodia. In some developed countries like Japan and China in the Far East more than sixty percent of male population smokes. One third of the world population smokes, 12 per cent of them are women and every day one lakh kids are added to this number. Every year 5.6 million people die of tobacco or due to smoking related diseases. Every 6 second a smoker dies. 70 per cent of the smokers die younger than normal population. Smokers die 15 year younger than non smokers. In the 21st cetury, 1.3 billion people will die of smoking.
Smoking in India has been known since ancient times when ‘Cannabis’ was smoked and it was for the first time mentioned in the Atharvaveda which dates back to few hundred years BC. There are approximately 120- million smokers in India. According to the World Health Organisation, India is home to 12 per cent of the total smokers of the world. Approximately nine lakh people die in India due to smoking every year as of 2009. According to a World Health Organisation estimate, 30 per cent of adult especially males in India smoke. Among adult females, the figure is much lower ranging bewtween 3 to 5 per cent. Smoking in public places was prohibited nationwide from 2nd of october 2008.
According to the study, ‘A Nationally Representative Case-Control Study of Smoking and Death in India’, tobacco would have been responsible for 1 in 5 of all male deaths and 1 in 20 of all female deaths in the country by 2010. This means that 1 million Indians would have died annually from smoking by 2010. According to the indian Heart Association (IHA), India accounts 60 per cent of the worlds heart disese burden, despite having less than 20 per cent of the worlds population. The Indian Heart Association has identified reduction in smoking as a significant target of the cardiovascular health prevention efforts. Nearly 26.6 per cent of people in Jammu and Kashmir smoke.
Smoking cigarette, pipe, cigar, Hukkah and other use of tobacco like chewing tobacco and tobacco sniffing all are dangerous and addictive. Nicotine present in tobacco causes addiction by increasing the brain levels of chemicals like dopamine and Endrophine. These chemicals give a sense of happiness hence there is craving for tobacco products. If a person tries to quit, withdrawl effects include irritability, anxiety, depression and lack of concentration.
Tobacco and tobacco smoke have about 4,000 chemicals, 200 of these are poisonous and 60 of these chemicals are known to cause cancer (carcinogens). some of these chemicals are , benzene (a petroleum product), ammonia (used in dry cleaning and toilet cleaning), formaldehyde (a chemical use to preserve dead bodies) and Tar. Tobacco causes hardening of the blood vessels leading to heart attack and stroke. It also contains carbon mono oxide which decreases oxygen in the blood. Ninety percent of people who develop lung cancer are current or former smokers.
Tobacco smoking is a leading cause pof heart attack. Smokers have twice risk of fatal heart disease. Tobacco smoke has chemicals which cause hardening of the blood vassals and plague formation (Atherosclerosis) which blocks the blood supply to the heart muscle resulting heart attack and death. Smoking increases the risk of stroke. Smokers have three fold risk of stroke. 15 per cent bdeaths due to stroke are smoking realetd. Risk for weak hip joint, due to tinning of bones (Osteoporosis), stomach ulcer, early wrinkling of skin and sleep disturbance are there.
Passive smoking or secong hand smoking is also a very serious bisiness. A person who smokes not only harms himselves but people around him like, co-workers and family members who are at a very high risk to develop cancer, heart disease, stroke and lung infections. Children of smokers are at risk of developing asthama, bronchitis, sinus infections and mental retardation. Smokeless tobacco like chewing and sniffing tobacco also has poisonous and cancerous chemicals which cause mouth, gum and throat cancers. By the ill effects of smoking you are not only poisoning yourself, but also your family and friends by giving them second hand smoke. There is help available in the form of counseling by physicians, by nicotine products like nicotine patches, nicotine gum and nicotine spray and two drugs namely bupropion and varenicline. They help by preventing withdrawl symptoms by nicotine dependence.
