Sir — It is the youth who are the most vulnerable to smoking as they take it up as a fad and then peer pressure accentuates. Curiosity, adventurousness and risk-taking mental disposition make them experiment and try something different in life. Despite larger warnings on cigarette packs and media messages about harmful effects of each cigarette, they smoke, thinking death is very far.
Smokers enjoy the smoke that emanates, unmindful of passive smoking. RJR Nabisco withdrew its brand of smokeless cigarettes as they found smokers enjoyed the smoke. Banning the sale of cigarettes, larger warning on packets and increasing legal age for the sale of tobacco products to 25 years are welcome but the change has to come from within. In the interest of a healthy nation, the problem has to be tackled at the grassroots level of tobacco production despite powerful tobacco lobby repeatedly asserting its contribution to national economy. Any delay may result in nation paying a heavy price.