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No to Smoking

Published: 2010-11-30    Views:117 reads

 

Despite the awareness created by anti-tobacco campaigns, the number of smokers and deaths due to smoking are rising rapidly.

Tobacco use is the most preventable cause of cancer death in the world today. About six million deaths a year are caused by tobacco, according to a new report. Smoking is set to kill seven million people in 2015 and 8.5 million humans in 2030, with the biggest rise in low and middle-income countries. Every 6.5 seconds a current or former smoker dies, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Tobacco use will kill one billion people in the 21st century if current smoking trends continue. An estimated 1.3 billion people are smokers worldwide. Thirty-three percent to 50 percent of all smokers die of the habit. The major diseases due to smoking are coronary heart disease, lung cancer, mouth cancer and severe problems relating to the throat, bladder, kidney and pancreas.

Most of the diseases are so severe that there is no treatment available for them. The seeds for ensuring a healthier lifestyle should be sown in childhood itself. So why should the importance of saying no to tobacco begin from early childhood. This should be included in the academic curriculum. Good or bad, old habits die hard. We should instill good lifestyle practices in the younger generation at the tender age only. Smokers need to be taught stress management techniques.

As a society, we hold forth the ideal of protecting the weak and helpless from harm. If we really mean that, then smoking needs to be wholly banned from public places, including privately owned places where the public goes, such as restaurants, parks, malls and other businesses centers. Mere fines, warnings and bans are not going to change the attitude and perception of smokers. Stricter laws are needed to deal with this important health issue. Quit smoking, at least for your family's sake.

Source from: Arab News

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