US EDITION
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

65 pc of Indian men use tobacco, says WHO stats

The last two decades have seen a phenomenal growth in the chewing tobacco industry in India, with tobacco exports totalling 127.7 million US dollars in 1990, compared with 122.2 million dollars in 1985.

According to statistics released by the World Health Organisation, on the occasion of the World No-Tobacco Day today, India produced 578,800 tonnes or 7 per cent of the world's total unmanufactured tobacco in 1992, making it the world's third largest tobacco- producing country. During the same period, India produced about 767,436 million manufactured cigarettes and bidis, accounting for 13.5 per cent of the world total.

In India, an estimated 65 per cent of all men use some form of tobacco. In 1997, it was reported that about 194 million men and 45 million women above 15 years of age used tobacco which caused 800,000 deaths annually.

The country also has one of the highest rates of oral cancer in the world. Tobacco-related cancers account for about half of all cancers among men and one-fourth among women. Oral cancer accounts for one-third of the total cancer cases, with 90 per cent of the patients being tobacco chewers.

Though cigarette smoking in the country has remained stationary or declined somewhat during the 1980s, other forms of tobacco use have increased considerably over the years. The burden of disease attributable to tobacco in India includes 1.3 million cases of coronary artery diseases and seven million chronic obstructive airway diseases annually. An estimated 25 per cent of all persons above the age of 40 in urban India who smoke suffer from chronic bronchitis while still births, low-birth weight babies and prenatal mortality have been reported among female tobacco chewers.

WHO recommends more stringent tobacco control measures in India. It points out that though tobacco advertising has been banned in state-controlled electronic media, it continues without restriction in newspapers, magazines, on posters, billboards and in video cassettes of Indian films.

The tobacco situation in the South East Asian region is also assuming grave proportions with smoking prevalence registering as high as 72 per cent among women and 80 per cent for men, WHO's regional director for the region, Dr Uton Muchtar Rafei said today.

Addressing presspersons in New Delhi, Dr Uton said countries of the region were at extreme risk from tobacco becoming the leading pubic health problem whose cumulative ill-effects would be visible in a few years. ''One out of every two smokers will die prematurely from tobacco-related causes and would lose at least 20-25 years they might have otherwise enjoyed'', he said.

Dr Z Jadamba of WHO said the region produces and consumes the greatest variety of tobacco products in both smokeless and smoking form including cigarettes, bidis, kreteks, keeyos, cigars, cheroots, chuttas, hukkas, pan masala, gutka, gundi, mishri and gudhaku. India is ranked third among 25 leading countries for apparent use of unmanufactured tobacco in 1994. In the same year, India ranked 14th among the world's 25 highest cigarette consumers, he said.

Data suggests that tobacco will cause more deaths worldwide than those caused by HIV, tuberculosis, maternal mortality, motor vehicle accidents, suicide and homicide put together. Keeping this in mind, WHO has focussed this year's theme on smoking cessation activities, Dr Uton said. The slogan 'leave the pack behind' is aimed at encouraging smokers to quit the habit and motivating non-smokers, particularly the young and women, not to start.

Dr Uton expressed grave concern over the increasing trend of tobacco consumption in the region, especially among women, the young and the poor. Consumption levels ranged between 55 and 80 per cent among adult men and between three and 71 per cent among adult women.

The region is characterised by very high levels of nicotine and tar as compared to the developed countries. The uneducated, often with low earnings, smoke more and children are starting to smoke as early as 8 or 9 years of age, he said.

A personal testimony against the disastrous health effects of tobacco was given at the press conference by former US film star and model Alan Landers. Landers, who was known as the 'Winston man' and for several years appeared on billboards and print advertisements urging the young and old to smoke, said for him the result of constant smoking was two lung surgeries and cardiac bypass surgery.

''The warning on the cigarette packet is inadequate as it does not tell you cigarettes cause lung cancer, emphysema or heart attacks'', he said. Cigarette companies had known this for years through studies carried out by them but had deliberately kept the information secret, he added. Landers has filed a lawsuit seeking compensation against the R J Reynolds tobacco company for the damage.

Dr Uton said the world today was clearly in the grip of a tobacco epidemic. ''According to present estimates, tobacco is responsible for over 25 diseases, causing 3.5 million deaths every year. One million of these deaths occur in developing countries'', he said.

Smoking cessation, this year's theme, is a critical step towards substantially reducing the health risks run by current smokers, thereby improving world health, he said.

The global picture, according to WHO, is that nearly one-third of the global adult population -- 1.1 billion people -- are smokers and if present trends continue, by 2020 tobacco will become the leading cause of death and disability, killing over ten million people annually.

Smokers who have taken to the habit in adolescence and continue to smoke regularly have a 50 per cent chance of dying from tobacco- related diseases, Dr Uton said. He pointed out that nicotine is more addictive than heroin, cocaine, alcohol and marijuana and that those who wish to quit smoking do not find it easy. With prolonged smoking, smokers have a death rate about three times higher than non-smokers at all ages, starting from young adulthood.

Studies have shown that 75-80 per cent of smokers do want to quit and one-third have made serious attempts to do so. Yet support for these people has been limited in most countries of the region, he observed.

Even if a small population of today's smokers were able to give up the habit, the long-term health and economic benefits would be enormous. For the South East Asia region, this would mean an added value, releasing much needed resources -- both human and financial -- for developmental activities, he said, and added that motivational intervention for cessation needed to be intensified.

On the occasion, Dr Prakash Chandra Gupta, senior research scientist at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bombay was presented with the ''tobacco-free'' world award, instituted by WHO to honour people who have done significant work in creating awareness against tobacco consumption.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report