Tobacco menace

A never ending disgrace

Tobacco. The curse of the Gods. The plant that pretended to benefit mankind in the early days after it was spotted by tribals but very soon showed its true colors and turned out to be a disaster for the same mankind. It is an irony if not a disgrace that despite the well known and well established hazards of this plant, mankind keeps abusing it like never before.

It is an added disgrace that India, a superpower now, and making extremely rapid strides in the areas of not only science and technology still refuses to give up its slavery to this dreaded plant and its products that masquerade as indices of fashion and sophistication but in reality are only weapons of mass destruction of a different kind.

According to experts, India now has the dubious distinction of harboring the world’s largest number of oral cancer patients with an annual age standardized incidence of 12.5 per 100,000, and oral cancer amounts to 9.4 percent of all cancers in India. Historically, this has been attributed to widespread usage of smokeless tobacco, and for this reason a great emphasis is being laid by the government and non-government organizations towards effective tobacco control. Over last several decades, billions of rupees have been spent for this purpose. Despite all efforts of tobacco control, oral cancer that is an uncommon disease in the west continues to be the major cause of cancer related death in India.

Good for nothing Gutka

The main form of smokeless tobacco which is sold in India is ‘gutka’ and ‘pan masala’ with tobacco. Gutka is a preparation of crushed areca nut, tobacco, catechu, paraffin, lime and sweet or savory flavorings. Some manufacturers also make gutka without tobacco and market them as pan masala or even mouth freshener. Tobaco and areca nut which are critical ingredients of gutka and pan masala are classified as very dangerous cancer producing agents by the World Health Organization and International Agency for Research on Cancer.

According to recent Global Adult Tobacco Survey, about 275 million people in India are addicted to tobacco, and one third of them use it in smokeless form. India is the greatest producer of Areca nut, producing about 3, 30,000 million tons a year (nearly half of global Areca nut production), and most of them are consumed within the country. The gutka industry in India has grown from small beginnings forty years ago to a multi-billion rupee industry with nearly 375 brands, of which, nearly 100 of them are located in Mumbai. It is estimated that, gutka and paan masala worth around Rs10,000 crore are sold in the country annually. Due to low cost, easy availability, attractive packaging, aggressive marketing, innocent adolescents and youths are becoming addicted to them. In India, over 5 million children under 15 are addicted to gutka.

Dear friends, it is never too late to correct your mistakes in life. Wake up to the dangers of tobacco at least now. Throw it away in the dustbin and save yourself and your family. You will be the happier for it.