dear GYM colleagues,

this Pramod HAOI.  I am very excited to participate from tomarrow. hope our actions speak all over from tomarrow.

I thank again to GYM organisers, HRIDAY for giving this oppurtunity to unite .

There is this poll on the blog about stopping someone who is about to light a cigarette in a public place. About 55% of the voters said ‘yes’. This of course is not a bad idea, that’s about the best you can do to save yourself and others around from passive/secondary smoking. The question is…

‘How would you do that?’

Would you call attention on him or would you softly ask him to stop? I believe most of the people that smoke in public places are not gentlemen you just must be careful in approaching them with such an issue.

Anybody has an idea?

Imagine a person ( Indian) who smokes 2 packets of cigarettes per day , he continues smoking for 15 yrs and finally he dies due to some tobacco related diseases.

Can you guess roughly how much money he would have spend for buying cigars during this period ??? 

It comes to around  273750  rupees. 

1 pkt = Rs. 25

So 2 pkts for 1 year = 50 * 365 = 18250 rupees.

so for 15 yrs  = 273750 rupees.

Do you know the gravity of this amount ?????

This much amount is sufficient for a 4 membered family to get rice   for around 100 years .

for a 4 membered family , cost of  rice per day = Rs.7.5  (for 0.5  kg)

for 1 year it is  = 7.5 *365 =  2737.5 rupees.

so with 273750 they can live around 273750 /2737.5 =  100yrs

Here are a few simple solutions to making workplaces smokefree which, if incorporated into the system, can bring a sea change.

Educate co-workers about secondhand smoke.

Propose adoption of an effective clean indoor air policy for  workplaces, if needed.

Rally support and assist in adoption of a clean indoor air policy.

Sample policies and literature presenting facts of special interest to employers about secondhand smoke are available.

Employers decide to go smoke-free based on many things including (a) learning how it can help their business, (b) comments from cus-tomers, and (c) encouragement from employees.

Stopping smoking in homes is one of the first steps that can be taken towards creating a smoke-free environment, afterall it is our family and loved ones in consideration. We need to be able to convince them easily & help them get rid of this deadly habit. The love we share,the understanding we have should be a driving force in combatting this problem or else it won’t be late when we’ll see them suffering, our family suffering and what will remain are facts like this……….

studies show that smokers in their 30s and 40s are five times more likely to have a heart attack than non-smokers.

men who smoke increase their chances of dying from the disease by more than 22 times.

Women who smoke increase this risk by nearly 12 times.

Smoking in pregnancy greatly increases the risk of miscarriage, is associated with lower birthweight babies, and inhibited child development.

Smoking by parents following the birth is linked to sudden infant death syndrome, or cot death, and higher rates of infant respiratory illness, such as bronchitis, colds, and pneumonia.

Nicotine, an ingredient of tobacco, is listed as an addictive substance by the US authorities.

Although the health risks of smoking are cumulative, giving up can yield health benefits regardless of the age of the patient, or the length of time they have been smoking.

By 2020, the WHO expects the worldwide death toll to reach 10 million, causing 17.7% of all deaths in developed countries. There are believed to be 1.1 billion smokers in the world, 800 million of them in developing countries. ….This is a mere estimate which can turn out to be true if the present conditions prevail, but we can bring the change but are we ready???

In India section(4) of The Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products Act, 2003 prohibits smoking in public places.  Any violation of this Act is a punishable offence with fine upto Rs200.

Public place as defined in the Act and the rules means any place to which the public has access whether as of right or not and includes all places visited by general public and includes:

*Auditorium
*Hospital Buildings
*Health Institutions
*Amusement Parks
*Restaurants
*Hotels
*Public Offices
*Court Buildings
*Educational Intitutions
*Libraries
*Public Conveyances
*Open Auditorium
*Stadium
*Clubs
*Hookah Bars(where smoking takes place)
*Railway Stations
*Bus stops
*Workplaces
*Shopping Malls
*Cinema Halls
*Refreshment Rooms
*Discotheques
*Coffee Houses
*Pubs
*Bars
*Airport Lounge

But public place does not include open space example parking space, roads, open market places, parks, private homes etc.

To promote tobacco free schools it has been suggested to include ‘Tobacco Control in the Cirriculum at all Levels’.  All educational institutions have beenm directed to display ‘No Smoking Area’ at the entrance

Shachi Saluja
DLDAV Model School
Pitampura
Delhi

In India The Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products Act, 2003 was enacted in May 2003 to discourage the consumption of cigarettes and other tobacco products.  Section(4) of this act prohibits smoking in public places. Recently,the provisions relating to prohibition of smoking in public places were reviewed and have come into force w.e.f. 2nd October 2008. Steps are being taken by various Ministries/Departments to become smoke free. In this respect active cooperation of the Department of Education has been sought.

To promote tobacco free schools it has been suggested to include ‘Tobacco Control in the Cirriculum at all Levels’.  All educational institutions have been directed to display No Smoking Area’ at the entrance.

Shachi Saluja
DLDAV School
Pitampura
Delhi

Hello everyone, This is Delegate Nimit Jain from New Delhi, India. I was surfing the net, for my research work when I happened to read through a very interesting yet dreadful article, Here it is —

Hi everyone,

I apologize to write so late, but I just attended a HELP conference in Prague. Do you know HELP campaign - For a life without Tobacco? It’s really well-known in Europe and in my opinion it has a great future. I am wondering how good those anti-smoking campaigns are in other countries? HELP is one of the few that has really good media campaign. It is rarely that healthy campaigns are attractive and HELP is an example. Do you know it?

Anyhow, greetings from Slovenia and see you soon!

Mojca

Yes it is indeed true that tobacco is harmful and there have been steps taken up by the government to obstruct it’s usage but still more than 500 million kg of tobacco is been consumed in india every year.  Just passing the laws is not the solution  for this we have to do something which really makes some difference like creating awareness  among youth from the primary level,reduction in tobacco production in a phased  manner and many alike actions…………….vatsal,delhi.