Tobacco: A slow death Companion
Tobacco: A slow death Companion
[dropcap]W[/dropcap]e live in a time where there is flood of information about everything that influences everyone in diverse ways both in positive and negative manner. Humans have used tobacco in many forms for several centuries. Its use often starts early in life. In recent years, there has been a rising trend in tobacco use, more in smokeless forms in India. Though there are no nationwide data available in India on the exact extent of the tobacco use among adolescents. These show a general tendency towards an increase in tobacco use by the youth for the past few decades. The consumption of tobacco among the young has been a great concern and a social threat to the fabric of personal wellbeing and development. The number of deaths associated with smoking among the youth is alarmingly high and the steps to curb this menace have a long way to go. There are many influencing factors for a young person to get into addiction to nicotine substances and India has been considered as one of the leading nations in tobacco abuse.The world observes World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) on 31st May every year. This is promoted by the World Health Organization (WHO) keeping in mind the harm, the effect and the impact it has on individuals and society. The objective of observing World No Tobacco Day is to reduce tobacco consumption which can lead to deadly diseases like cancer and early death. The World No Tobacco Day primarily focuses on encouraging users to refrain from tobacco consumption and its related products and it invites individuals who are into tobacco or nicotine addiction to refrain from it at least for a day to mark this occasion. Highlighting the health risks associated with tobacco use and advocating for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption is another focus of this day. Tobacco kills nearly six million people each year, of which more than 600 000 are non-smokers dying from breathing second-hand smoke. The World No Tobacco Day 2014 comes with this message on countries to raise taxes on tobacco and tobacco products.
This is a matter of great public health concern. Psychosocial factors have an important role to play in initiation of this habit. Advertisements of tobacco products and promotional campaigns by the manufacturers also play an important role in initiation of the habit by adolescents. Vulnerable and curious youngsters become “soft target” in the use and abuse of tobacco. Cigarette smoking during childhood and adolescence produces significant health problems among young people, including an increase in the number and severity of respiratory illnesses, decreased physical fitness and potential effects on the rate of lung growth and maximum lung function. Most importantly, this is when an addiction to smoking takes hold which often persists into and sometimes throughout adulthood. If current tobacco use patterns persist, an estimated 6.4 million current child smokers will eventually die prematurely from a smoking related disease.
A number of factors influence the use of tobacco by children and teenagers. Some of these are the family history of tobacco use by elders, peer influence, experimentation, easy access to such products, personality factors, underlying emotional and psychological problems, accompanied risk-taking behaviours, and most importantly, the aggressive marketing strategies of the tobacco industry. Some factors associated with youth tobacco use appear to be similar across different types of tobacco products and include the following categories. Social and physical environments is said to be one major cause of influence of tobacco abuse among the students and young people. Small social groups and peer groups increase the risk of tobacco abuse if the peers use tobacco. Young people are more likely to use tobacco if they perceive tobacco use is acceptable or normative among their peers. Parental smoking may promote smoking among young people. There is a strong relationship between youth smoking and negative effect, such as depression, anxiety, and stress. Expectations of positive outcomes from smoking, such as coping with stress and controlling weight, are related to youth tobacco use. Many young people are not aware of the fact that these habits lead them to lifelong addiction. Biological and Genetic Factors – There is evidence that youth may be sensitive to nicotine and that teens can feel dependent on nicotine sooner than adults. Genetic factors may mean that it is more difficult for some people to quit smoking once they have started. Other influences that have been demonstrated to affect tobacco use include: Low socioeconomic status, Lack of skills to resist influences to tobacco use, Lack of parental support or involvement, Accessibility, availability, and price of tobacco products, Low levels of academic achievement, Low self-image or self-esteem and aggressive behaviour patterns.
Adolescents are the most vulnerable population to initiate tobacco use. It is now well established that most of the adult users of tobacco start tobacco use in childhood or adolescence. There has been a perceptible fall in smoking in the developed countries after realization of harmful effects of tobacco. The tobacco companies are now aggressively targeting their advertising strategies in the developing countries like India. Adolescents often get attracted to tobacco products because of such propaganda. There has been a rapid increase in trade and use of smokeless tobacco products in recent years in the country, which is a matter of serious concern to the health planners. It is important to understand various factors that influence and encourage young teenagers to start smoking or to use other tobacco products. The age at first use of tobacco has been reduced considerably. However, law enforcing agencies have also taken some punitive measures in recent years to curtail the use of tobacco products.
Considering the enormous adverse health consequences accompanying tobacco addiction, it is very important to develop preventive strategies to reduce tobacco consumption. Preventive strategies especially focused towards children and adolescents need to be initiated on emergent basis. This is more important for the developing countries like India, which have become the main targets of advertisement and promotional propaganda of various multinational tobacco companies. Our state like Nagaland needs to take strong and stringent measures in curbing this menace to prevent students and youth from falling into this addiction. Early education on the harmful effects of tobacco by educational institutions can pave the way in the reduction of tobacco abuse among the school and college going students. A very important step in primary prevention is the revamp of the existing tobacco policies of the government. The Government of India has recently taken some important legal measures, but there are still many problems in the enforcement of tobacco related law. Restrictions have been imposed on sales and on tobacco use in public places like railway stations, airports, hospitals and governmental offices. However, the more important aspect would be the strict observation and control of such restrictions. An initiative in this regard has to be taken by stopping tobacco sale in vicinity of schools by all the educational institutions in the state. This is extremely relevant to our society, where economic disparity, unemployment, and illiteracy are associated with all kinds of addictive behaviours including the tobacco use by children. There is an urgent need to take effective steps, especially on launching community awareness programs for the school children and public to educate them about the consequences of tobacco use, and on assessing their effectiveness in curbing the problem.
