New Viral Video enters Fray for Anti-Smoking Campaigns

The extent of diseases like cancer and other respiratory damages that the habit of cigarette smoking induces in the human body has been a major concern. From anti-smoking ads to disclaimers and images on the cigarette packs, there have be many campaigns to reduce the practice of smoking. However, the consumption of cigarettes has barely gone down. In fact, the number of smokers have kept on increasing.

In India itself, according to the Global Tobacco Atlas Study prepared by the American Cancer Society (ACS) and US-based Vital Strategies, tobacco consumption claims 17, 877 lives. Every year, more than 932,600 Indian lives are lost to tobacco related diseases. Smoking is also a habit in India which is indulged at a very young age which makes it very difficult to be removed easily. India is home to an estimated 625,000 child smokers aged 10–14 years, according to Global Tobacco Atlas data released in march 2018. The data also reflected that the cost of smoking is severely damaging. With 103 million adults (15 years and above) still smoking daily, the economic cost of smoking in India is Rs 1,818,691 million. This figure consists of both direct cost of healthcare and the indirect cost of lost productivity resulting from early death and illness.

In such a scenario, the lack of any positive effect from the preventive measures initiated by anti-smoking ads and campaigns is seriously disconcerting. However, a video recently going viral around internet may do the trick. The importance of the video gains significance since it arrives close on heels of world No tobacco day on May 31. Couple of videos were posted by a North Carolina based nurse Amanda Eller on Facebook. The videos highlight the difference between a healthy lung and a black coloured cancer ridden lung.

The videos show the two lungs, while injected with air, inflate and deflate in different manner. The cancerous lung, after exhalation, fails to regain its shape and loses its elasticity entirely. The healthy lings, on the other hand, are able to regain their shape very easily post exhalation.

The video, which has fetched as many as around 4 crore views since it was posted on April 23 was uploaded with the caption reading "Cancerous, 1 pack per day for 20 years lungs versus healthy lungs. Still wanna smoke?"