It’s a familiar enough sight: “C’mon, I dare you! Take a puff. Don’t be a sissy; it’s not going to hurt…” And nine out of 10 youngsters fall a prey to their friend’s machinations. But you know it’s that Lone Ranger, the one that didn’t pick up the killer stick, who deserves the rounds of applause. ‘Cos it takes guts to stand up to your peers and say, “No, I won’t.”
Everyone’s read reams about killer tobacco and its effects on the human system but it doesn’t seem to have any impact. “That’s because of the ads,” says Dr. Vijaya Bharati Rangarajan of the NGO Can-Stop, a cancer support group that also works to spread the word about the ill-effects of tobacco. “Just look at those obviously fit and healthy people taking a puff. The message — the wrong one — is that smoking doesn’t affect you.” And then goes on to ask rhetorically, “Do you think anyone would pick up a cigarette if they saw these wasted and diseased bodies smoking?”
Even as the incidence of smoking falls in the developed countries, it’s on the rise in developing countries like India. Obviously the tobacco lobby doesn’t give up easy. There are laws against sale of tobacco products to minors, against smoking in public places … but who’s enforcing these. Kids are picking up the habit at a younger age today; as low as six or seven.
And there’s now way you can walk away and say, “it’s not my problem”. If you’re around a smoker, it is your problem. The smoke you inhale will cause as much damage to you as it does to smoker. The World Health Organisation estimates that at least 700 million people will die of second-hand smoke, most of them being children. If that’s the amount of damage second-hand smoke, think of the figures for smokers!
Taxes and bans may help deal with this but there’s something you can do as well: Quit or help others to quit. We know that smoking is contagious, but guess what quitting is contagious too. A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine says that those who’re promising never to pick up another one influence friends, co-workers and relations. This study followed 12,000 people over three decades from 1971 to 2003 — many friends, relatives and colleagues of those studied also joined making the final tally 53,228 relationships — and found that people tend to quit in clusters.
Now, I don’t know if this info influenced Can-Stop but they’re beginning a Quitter’s Club on the lines of Smokers Anonymous. This self-help group with a difference is meant to motivate those treading that slippery path to Quitdom. Those who’ve kicked the habit can give pep talks and encourage their less-fortunate friends. Others will pitch in medical advice, strategies and whatever else the quitters need to stay away from the butt.
And, of course, there’s a lot for the youth. The rock show last Saturday should have sent home the “say no to cigarettes” message quite effectively. There’s more this week: a photo exhibition, which sees Chennai’s well known photographer Sharad Haksar exhibiting his take on the issue. Then the Madras Players, Chennai’s and India’s oldest English theatre group, will use drama to tell you all about tobacco (they’ve gone all the way back to King James I of England to get their matter). Look out for the sticker campaign from May 31, screening and counselling sessions, talks and much more.
If you want to get personally involved, then join Youth Can, the youth wing of Can-Stop. There’re no age limits or criterion. You get to help organise Can-Stop’s events, spread awareness in schools and colleges, talk to your peers and parents aboput the perils of smoking. So what’re you waiting for?
Want to join Can-Stop’s Quitters Club or Youth Can? Call their helpline 26284256 between 10.00 a.m. and 5.00 p.m. or e-mail canstop@smfhospital.org Can-Stop functions from Dr. Rangarajan Memorial Hospital, Shanti Colony, 4th Avenue, Anna Nagar West, Chennai 40. Website: www.canstop.org The Quitters Club will function at from their Resource Centre at 20A, D’Silva Road, Mylapore, Chennai 04. Ph: 24993515
About Can-Stop
* Can-Stop (Cancer Support Therapy to Overcome Pain) is a community-based, voluntary oragnisation dedeciated to helping cancer-affected people by offering counselling, information, advice, consolation and listening to not just the patients but also their families and friends.
* Can-Stop works with patients at the Institute of Child Health and Children’s Hospital, Egmore; Government Hospital for Women and Children; and the Government General Hospital.
* The projects include educational therapy for children, occupational therapy for the mothers and women, counselling and awareness and screening camps; nutrition projects, blood bank and drug bank.
* Can-Wish tries to fulfil the wishes of critically-ill children up to six years.
* Sponsor A Child helps children with a good prognosis by supplying them essential drugs for one year through individual sponsors.
Why you should say no
* No form of tobacco is safe: not cigarettes, cigars, gutka or pipes.
* Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death in the world. It kills up to 50 per cent of its regular users.
* India has 184 million consumers with 55,000 children falling prey to it every year. Each year, 8,00,000 people in India die due to tobacco-related diseases.
* Smoking harms not only the smoker but also those around him/her who breathe the cigarette smoke.Second-hand smoke causes as many as 3,00,000 cases of bronchitis and pneumonia among infants each year.
* Second-hand smoke increases a child’s chances of middle ear problem, causes wheezing and coughing and worsens asthma conditions.
* Second-hand smoke causes heart disease, lung cancer and respiratory problems among other non-smokers.
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