Smoking out life?

Siliguri, March 2: Almost half the college students in Siliguri are smokers, and more than half of the professionals here also indulge in the habit.

These facts were revealed in a survey conducted recently by the National Tobacco Control Programme being implemented by the Union health ministry.

As much as 53 per cent of professionals and 48.8 per cent of college students in the 18-25 age group have picked up smoking cigarettes, the survey has found. It says that the use of tobacco is increasing day by day in Bengal.

According to the study, 39.4 per cent of men and 2.5 per cent of women aged 15 and above smoke tobacco in the state. In addition, 23.2 per cent men and 15.1 per cent women were in the habit of chewing tobacco.

“It is high time to save people from premature death caused from the use of tobacco in different forms,” the accompanying note from the health ministry adds. It is substantiated by the WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2008 which has pointed out that only five per cent of the world’s population live in countries that fully protect their people with any one of the key measures that reduce smoking rates.

As a result, as much as 5.4 million people die every year from tobacco use. The New England Journal of Medicine, in this context, has in a recent article revealed that 900,000 Indians have a premature death annually caused by tobacco use. Elaborating on it, the journal states that tobacco causes a staggering one in five of all male deaths, and one in 20 of all female deaths among Indians aged 30-69.

These disturbing trends were highlighted at a recent meeting organised by the West Bengal Voluntary Health Association’s North Bengal unit which, in collaboration with the Voluntary Health Association of India, is taking up an awareness drive against tobacco use, especially among the youths.

Absence of awareness had led to only 2 per cent of smokers leaving the habit last year, the survey said.

The meeting was addressed by P.K. Rudra, Darjeeling’s chief medical officer of health II, who said laws were not enough in curbing tobacco use. “Motivation is the main driving force in curbing or ending a habit, and the focus of awareness efforts should be more on teenagers,” he pointed out.