Ban on tobacco

While the front-page anchor story of this newspaper a couple of days back had said four out of every ten Indians are in favour of a ban on tobacco and tobacco products, the reality is that more than four out of every ten families in Assam and the Northeastern region have been severely affected by cancer and other killer diseases that have been caused due to consumption of tobacco and tobacco products. The use of tobacco in India is not very old. It is a ‘gift’ to the subcontinent by the waves of Islamic invaders from the West. Though smoking has been known to Indians since at least 2000 BC when cannabis was smoked, its first mention is said to be in the Atharvaveda, which dates back a few hundred years BC. In fact fumigation – dhupa – and fire offerings – homa – were prescribed in the Ayurveda for medical purposes and have been practised for at least 3,000 years, it is said that smoking – dhumrapana – has been practised for at least 2,000 years, though the commodity in use was mostly cannabis or bhang. Tobacco was introduced to India in the 17th century. Originally a native of America but now grown all over India, tobacco contains two active principles–Nicotine and Nicotianine. There is also another variety of tobacco which has its roots in Australia which contains Piturine, a volatile alkaloid acting exactly like Nicotine. While many people consume tobacco in the smokeless form – like chewing with tamul-paan, paan, gutka, khaini etc, the majority of the tobacco users use it in the smoking form – cigarettes and bidis. Most people do not realise that cigarette smoking, the most popular method of using tobacco, contains more than 4,000 toxic chemicals and 60 carcinogens which, on entering the body can cause various ailments. Smoking primarily reduces blood supply to the brain, constricts the blood vessels and causes atherosclerosis. Nicotine, the most important component of tobacco, on the other hand, causes the blood to clot and development of plaque which leads to increased risk of a heart attack. Poor blood circulation damages the blood vessels leading to gangrene and poor wound healing. Tobacco smokers suffer more from fractures due to higher rate of osteoporosis. Other outcomes of tobacco consumption include tooth abrasion, gum diseases, gum recession, heart diseases include stroke, and of course cancer in the mouth, pharynx or voice box, zoophagous or food pipe, lungs, kidney, pancreas and stomach. Given this scenario, out of the 4.5 crore population in the North East Region, over 39,600 new cancer cases are detected every year, out of which Assam alone contributes to nearly 30,000 patients. The findings of the survey referred to in Wednesday’s news item by a market research firm called Ipsos must be wrong. Every Indian must be demanding a ban on tobacco.