World No Tobacco Day: One million Indians die annually due to tobacco consumption

Today (31 May) is World No Tobacco Day. It has been observed worldwide since 1987 in an attempt draw people’s attention to the massive health risks that accompany you when you consuming tobacco. This year, we thought it is pertinent to point out that tobacco use remains the single largest cause of preventable death. It kills more than seven million people each year and the death toll is expected to keep rising, with the World Health Organisation (WHO) bracing for more than one billion deaths this century. WHO puts out a report analysing the damage caused by tobacco consumption each year to highlight the menace of a substance deeply normalised and internalised in our society despite the drastic health affects. This year too, inn a report released ahead of the occasion, WHO warned that the annual death toll of seven million people had jumped from four million at the turn of the century, making tobacco the world’s single biggest cause of preventable death. “By 2030, more than 80 percent of the deaths will occur in developing countries, which have been increasingly targeted by tobacco companies seeking new markets to circumvent tightening regulation in developed nations,” the UN agency said. [caption id=“attachment_2731590” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Getty images.[/caption] Environmental impact Tobacco use also brings an economic cost: WHO estimates that it drains more than $1.4 trillion (€1.3 trillion) from households and governments each year in healthcare expenditures and lost productivity, or nearly two percent of the global gross domestic product. India alone has lost 1,700 hectares of forest annually between 1962 and 2002 due to cultivation of tobacco in these areas, the WHO said. In addition to the health and economic costs linked to smoking, the WHO report for the first time delved into the environmental impact of everything from tobacco production to the cigarette butts and other waste produced by smokers. “From start to finish, the tobacco life cycle is an overwhelmingly polluting and damaging process,” WHO Assistant Director-General Oleg Chestnov said in the report. The report detailed how growing tobacco often requires large quantities of fertilisers and pesticides, and it warned that tobacco farming had become the main cause of deforestation in several countries. This is largely due to the amount of wood needed for curing tobacco, with WHO estimating that one tree is needed for every 300 cigarettes produced. WHO also highlighted the pollution generated during the production, transport and distribution of tobacco products. The report estimates that the industry emits nearly four million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent annually - the same as around three million transatlantic flights. And waste from the process contains over 7,000 toxic chemicals that poison the environment, including human carcinogens, WHO said.

Once in the hands of the consumer, tobacco smoke emissions spewed thousands of tonnes of human carcinogens, toxic substances and greenhouse gases into the environment.

Cigarette butts and other tobacco waste make up the largest number of individual pieces of litter in the world, the agency said. Two thirds of the 15 billion cigarettes sold each day are thrown on to the street or elsewhere in the environment, it said, adding that butts account for up to 40 percent of all items collected in coastal and urban clean-ups. WHO urged governments to take strong measures to rein in tobacco use. “One of the least used, but most effective tobacco control measures… is through increasing tobacco tax and prices,” Chestnov said. India impact The Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), which is conducted by the health ministry, says smoking kills over 1 million people in the country annually. The economic burden of tobacco consumption is around Rs 1,04,500 crore per annum. Thirty five percent of the adults in the age group of 15 years and above consume tobacco in some form or the other with 48 percent males and 20 per cent females consuming tobacco in any form. Nearly two in five (38 percent) adults in rural areas and one in four (25 percent) adults in urban areas use some form of tobacco.

Smoking kills over 1 million people in the country annually. The economic burden of tobacco consumption is around Rs 1,04,500 crore per annum.

The country has lost 1,700 hectares of forest annually between 1962 and 2002 due to cultivation of tobacco in these areas. And that, in addition to the fact that lack of stringent laws and relatively favourable taxation laws have made developing countries a plush market for tobacco companies seeking new markets to circumvent tightening regulation in developed nations Punjab, Maharashtra launch steps to discourage tobacco consumption Maharashtra’s health minister Deepak Sawant on Tuesday said that de-addiction centres will be set up in all the government-run hospitals in the state. He also sought proposals from the hospitals on the issue. the state government also roped in 40 NGOs to ensure better implementation of existing regulations. Sale of lose cigarette is illegal under the law, apart from many such restrictions on sale and use of tobacco, which largely remain unimplemented. Meanwhile in Punjab, the Health Department has instructed officers of departments concerned to check sale of loose cigarettes to students. The government also decided to put larger focus on protecting children and youth from tobacco abuse, and strictly implement section six of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA). The Punjab administration also vowed to ramp up efforts to raise the VAT on Bidi’s and smokeless tobacco in order to bring it at par with cigarettes. With inputs from agencies