Five in 10 adults are exposed to second hand smoking at home; 29% in public places
43% children between 2 months and 11 years live in homes with at least one smoker
Very few know that it’s not only active smokers who are at risk of getting lung cancer, passive smoker are equally vulnerable. Recently, I came across this 65-year-old woman who was diagnosed with lung cancer. The diagnosis came as a shocker, particularly when she was a non-smoker and had been pursuing a fairly healthy lifestyle. When investigations were done, it was discovered that she had been exposed to second-hand smoking (SHS) for 40 years because of her husband who smoked.
For no fault of hers, the woman is undergoing painful chemo and radiation therapies, but at the end-stage of the disease they do not seem to be effective. Out of immense guilt, her husband has given up smoking, but the realisation has come too late. If timed better, the quitting could have saved his wife from the dreaded disease. As we observe the World No Tobacco Day (May 31, 2013), it is not just important to discourage youngsters from falling to the peril of smoking, it is important to do so emphatically.
Second-hand smoking takes place when the smoke from a person’s burning tobacco product or the smoker’s exhalation is inhaled by another person who is a non-smoker. It is found that 66 per cent of the smoke from a cigarette is not inhaled by the smoker, but enters the air around us making it as devastating as smoking itself.
Second hand smoke is lethal because, it has at least twice the amount of nicotine and tar in comparison to the smoke inhaled by the smoker. It also has five times the amount of carbon monoxide, contains higher levels of ammonia and cadmium, contains hydrogen cyanide, a toxic poisonous gas, contains nitrogen dioxide which is very harmful and a regular exposure to second hand smoke increases the risk of lung disease by 25 per cent and heart disease by 10 per cent.
For tobacco companies, the mantra has always been to ‘catch them young’. The tobacco industry typically design their activities, keeping in mind youth, who once fall prey to addiction tend to carry it life long, adding up to their revenue potentially. All over the world, tobacco addiction has become one of the biggest threats to public health. As per World Health Organization (WHO), it kills nearly 6 million people every year, out of which more than 5 million are from direct tobacco use and more than 600,000 are non-smokers, exposed to SHS.
It is important to note that the effect of smoke varied from person to person. Those who are more sensitive to smoke might develop cancer within short period of exposure of direct or second hand smoking, while those who are a bit resistant might evade its perceptible consequences for quite long. According to WHO, a comprehensive ban on all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship could decrease tobacco consumption by an average of about seven per cent, with some countries experiencing a decline in consumption of up to 16 per cent.
As a matter of fact younger people smoke more compared to old people, and the earlier they start, more harmful the effects. This explains the sharp rise in cancer cases, stroke and hypertension in youth. Therefore all type of ads, endorsement and publicity should be strictly prohibited.
(The writer is consultant, Medical Oncology at Rajeev Gandhi Cancer Institute, New Delhi)