When it comes to tobacco, the Government, health experts, NGOs and other voluntary organisations immediately start talking about use of cigarette and bidi and its ill-effects whereas tobacco does not only mean cigarette and bidi, it is also smokeless tobacco.
In Madhya Pradesh, 19.0% men, 0.8% women and 10.2% all adults currently smoke tobacco. Similarly, 38.7% of men, 16.8% of women and 28.1% of all adults currently use smokeless tobacco.
India’s problem is smokeless or chewing tobacco, which causes 90% of oral cancers. As per the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS 2017), 21.4% (15+ adults) use smokeless tobacco whereas 10.7% smoke.
Patron of the Voice of Tobacco Victims (VOTV) Dr Lalit Shrivastav of Bhopal said that International Federation of Head & Neck Oncologic Societies (IFHNOS), a global organization, declared July 27 as World Head & Neck Cancer Day on the occasion of its fifth World Congress in New York on July 27, 2014. This day brings together patients, physicians and policymakers to raise awareness about the disease and recent treatment advances.
As per WHO (World Health Organization), alcohol use, in unsafe quantities is also a risk factor for many cancers including oral cancers. The risk increases much more, when alcohol and tobacco are taken together.
Even though India’s problem is chewing tobacco, but the focus seems to be more on smoking than on smokeless. Looking at the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) 2017 report, it states that healthcare providers have advised 48.8% smokers to quit whereas only 31.7% smokeless tobacco users were advised to quit, which shows a big gap.