Passive smoking increases the risk of Dementia by 44%

British medical journal found a 44% increased risk of Dementia among people exposed to high level of secondhand smoke. Inhaling secondhand smoke can damage the brain and impair cognitive functions such as memory.

Will pictorial health warnings on tobacco products really discourage tobacco use?

The government has deferred the decision to implement pictorial warnings on tobacco products.This ofcourse goes against all those who are fighting on the dangers of tobacco use.But the real question is will these warnings really help? As we saw in the previous postings by people on this blog that picking up a cigarette is a personal choice.what do you think?

Will removal of ban on smoking in films encourage smoking amongst the youth?

The recent verdict to lift ban on smoking in films has come in as quite a dampener in the government’s crusade for banning smoking. Judge S.K. Kaul of Delhi High court has announced that “A cinematographic film must reflect the realities of life. Smoking is a reality of life! It is undesirable but it exists. It is not banned by law.”

Film Stars serve as role models to the society especially the youth. Research has proven that children or even youngsters try to emulate their role models. So by lifting this ban in films we are actually encouraging smoking amongst them. This brings about an even stronger challenge for all of us who are fighting the war against tobacco, to come together as one voice and keep pacing up the anti-tobacco campaign.

Third hand smoke, First hand problem

Third-hand smoke is tobacco smoke contamination that remains after the cigarette has been extinguished," says Jonathan Winickoff, a pediatrician at the Dana–Farber/Harvard Cancer Center in Boston and author of a study on the new phenomenon published in the journal Pediatrics. According to the study, a large number of people, particularly smokers, have no idea that third-hand smoke—the cocktail of toxins that linger in carpets, sofas, clothes and other materials hours or even days after a cigarette is put out—is a health hazard for infants and children..

There are 250 poisonous toxins found in cigarette smoke. One such substance is lead. Very good studies show that tiny levels of exposure are associated with diminished IQ 

In an interview with ScientificAmerican.com, Winickoff observes that children ingest twice the amount of dust that grown-ups do. Let's say a grown-up weighs 150 pounds [68 kilograms]. Let's say a baby weighs 15 pounds [seven kilograms]. The infant ingests twice the dust [due to faster respiration and proximity to dusty surfaces]. Effectively, they'll get 20 times the exposure!  

A point worth considering, for those who smoke at home and still wonder why their kids don’t make the grades in school!

Smoking Mothers Beware!

In a recent report published in the media it was found by Australia's New South Wales Cancer Institute that children whose mothers smoked during their pregnancy had stronger chances of getting cancer in their childhood.

Christmas eve marked the rebirth of both Taj & Trident hotels

Both the Taj & Trident hotels in Mumbai have re-opened their doors to the public. The hotels which were battered by the terror strikes in Mumbai have risen from the ashes after being restored to their full glory. The first tourists who walked in after the doors were opened were interviewed by the media and have said that there is nothing to fear here. A news report which appeared in DNA newspaper on the reopening of the hotels is attached alongside this post.

We look forward to seeing you in Mumbai

10th December, World Human Rights Day: Demand for the Rights of children to live in a tobacco-free world

Listed below are excerpts from articles we sourced online on Rights of a child to a tobacco-free environment

Tobacco and the Convention on the Rights of the Child:

1. Source: http://old.ash.org.uk/html/passive/html/kidsbrief.html

• The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 20 November 1989 and came into force in September 1990. The Convention consists of legally binding international obligations. Article 3 of the Convention states that in every decision affecting a child, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration. Although the Convention does not include any explicit right to protection from the harm caused by tobacco, official interpretation of the articles of the Convention demonstrates that tobacco is a human rights issue. According to the World Health Organization:  
 
“Because of the enormous potential harm to children from tobacco use and exposure, States have a duty to take all necessary legislative and regulatory measures to protect children from tobacco and ensure that the interest of children take precedence over those of the tobacco industry.” ---Tobacco and the Rights of the Child. WHO/NMH/TFI/01.3 WHO, 2001

2. Source: http://www.whoindia.org/LinkFiles/Tobacco_Free_Initiative_03-Chapter-07.6.pdf

• In 2001, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India considered the issues related to tobacco control from the perspective of human rights and concluded that the following rights of an individual are violated due to lack of tobacco control mechanisms in India.

1. Right to clean air
A non-smoker is forced to inhale tobacco smoke in public areas.
2. Rights of children
Rights of born and unborn children are violated when they are exposed to tobacco smoke (active and passive) in the home or public areas. They are the most vulnerable and worst affected.
3. Right to information
Both the smoker and non-smoker are not provided with adequate information about the harmful effects of tobacco product and, in fact, are bombarded with misinformation about tobacco products through advertisements/events/celebrity and role model-linked promotion.
4. Right to education
Both the smoker and non-smoker are not adequately educated about the drastic ill-effects of tobacco on their personal and public health.
5. Right to redressal
Both the smoker/non-smoker do not have any redressal mechanism for the injuries/ ill-effects suffered by them due to tobacco products.
6. Right to tobacco cessation programme/activities (as part of right to health)
The smoker and his/her family have a right to have access to various cessation
strategies. In addition, there are also some rights of the smoker which may be violated by regulatory measures intended for tobacco control. However, these have to be superseded in the interest of public health and human rights of the larger community.

An analysis of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), conducted in 1998-1999, shows that tobacco smoking is inversely associated with educational status, with an illiterate person being three times more likely to smoke than a post graduate education.

• Studies show that the poor consume the most toxic tobacco products, e.g. unbranded beedis manufactured with poor quality control and sometimes laced with other narcotic drugs. Children are involved in the making of these beedis, so the time when they should be studying, they roll beedis and remain entrapped in the cycle of poverty.

• Tobacco quid is used by poor women and men to ward off hunger during long tedious work in agriculture, construction and other labour.