Smoking Rate among Women in India Is Higher Than 30 Years Ago

Smoking rate among women in India has increased within the last 30 years however the number of men who light up on a daily basis dropped in the country where more and more people are consuming tobacco products these days, state analysts.

Smoking rate among Indian adult men declined from 33.8 % in 1980 to 23 % in 2013 whereas women smoking in 2013 constituted 3.2 %, virtually exactly the same as in 1980 affirms a completely different research on worldwide smoking predominance released not so long ago. In 2013 about 12.1 million women lighted up in India, in comparison to 5.3 million women smokers registered in 1980 whilst the predominance of male smokers stood at 98 million in the very same year. Cigarette users in India smoked about 8.2 cigarettes on a daily basis, according to the report.

United States mentioned 14.3 % women smokers accompanied by Russia and Nepal with 16.9 %, Brazil with 11 %, Pakistan 5.4 %, India 3.2 %, China 2.1 % and Sri Lanka 1 %.

India had 35 million cigarette users totaling about 110 million in spite of the drop in the smoking rate from around 19 % to 13 per cent of the population, reported the research.

The survey determined that worldwide smoking rate among men constituted 41 % in 1980; however it dropped to 31 %. When it comes to women, the expected predominance of day-to-day cigarette smoking constituted 10.6 % in 1980 and already 2013 that had decreased to 6.2 %. "India is at present in the 2 stage of the tobacco pandemic, which comes after a cyclical routine. Despite the fact that there are a lot of men smokers, women smokers do go along with this trend," explains Dr. Monika Arora. According to Dr. Monika Arora the rate of women smoking in cities has boosted. "Not so long ago we conducted a study of schools in Chennai and Delhi and discovered that the there is a very small gender difference among adolescents who are fighting up.

Smokeless tobacco

Smokeless tobacco accounts for a significant and growing portion of global tobacco use, especially in South Asia. Over 25 distinct types of smokeless tobacco products are used worldwide, including both commercialized and local or homegrown products, used orally and nasally. Some products combine tobacco with substantial amounts of chemical additives and other plant material that may confer additional risk to the user. Moreover, smokeless tobacco products contain many of the toxins and carcinogens found in cigarettes, and thus result in many of the same diseases caused by smoking. In addition, smokeless tobacco use increases periodontal disease, tooth loss, and precancerous mouth lesions.
Despite the harm from smokeless tobacco use to both individuals and society at large, these products are not sufficiently regulated in many countries. The landscape of smokeless tobacco manufacturing and marketing is rapidly evolving. The largest American, British, and Japanese cigarette companies have entered the smokeless tobacco market and are branding their smokeless products as an extension of cigarette brands,a complement to be used in smoke-free environments. Understanding this “dual-use” consumption pattern will be essential to developing an appropriate regulatory structure for smokeless tobacco.

Global patterns of smokeless tobacco use vary widely. The import and sale of smokeless tobacco products are banned in 40 countries and areas. In some countries, like Finland and Egypt, men use smokeless tobacco products in much greater numbers than women because such products are perceived as masculine; in countries like South Africa, Thailand, and Bangladesh, women use smokeless tobacco products more than men because they are seen as a discreet way to consume tobacco.
Research addressing smokeless tobacco is limited. Monitoring and surveillance systems are scarce, and significant research gaps exist in identifying ingredients, additives, and toxicities of smokeless tobacco products. Little is known about product pricing, substitution of smokeless tobacco for smoked tobacco, and youth susceptibility to smokeless tobacco use. Policies to control smokeless tobacco are underdeveloped. The integration of smokeless tobacco control measures into the wider framework of tobacco control can help to curb its use.

Consumer Says:

Beta ek gutka khane ka itna shauk hai to ek kaam kar. Ek dost aur banna. Kaandha deney ke kaam aayega.

Son, if you are so fond of eating gutka [chewing tobacco], make sure you make a friend so that you have someone to help carry your coffin.

Title track from Bollywood movie, Wanted, India

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THE INDUSTRY Says:

We adopted our core strategy for growth: and that was to expand the smokeless tobacco category by converting adult smokers to smokeless tobacco.

Daniel Butler, President, U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company
Source: Tobaccoatlas.org

Cigar Versus Cigarette Smoking

There are no buts about it – smoking is bad for you. We all know that, but for those who crave a smoke

every once in a while, is there a less harmful option between cigars and cigarettes? There are many myths regarding the differences between these two smoking options. In this article, we’ll set the record straight.

Differences Between Cigars And Cigarettes

To figure out whether cigars or cigarettes are worse for your health, it’s important to first understand the differences between these two smoking options. The following are some of the key differences between cigars and cigarettes:

• Size: Cigars are much larger than cigarettes, with some measuring over 7 inches in length.
• Time: Since cigars are so much larger than cigarettes, they take longer to smoke. With larger cigars, it takes about 1 to 2 hours to smoke one. Cigarettes are generally smoked in less than 10 minutes.
• Filters: Most cigars do not have filters, while cigarettes do.
• Inhaling: Those who smoke cigarettes inhale the smoke into their lungs. Cigar smokers generally do not inhale the smoke; they let it sit in their mouth and throat instead.
• Tobacco types: Cigarettes are made from different blends of unfermented tobaccos. Cigars, on the other hand, are made from a single type of fermented and air-cured tobacco.
• Tobacco amounts: Cigarettes generally contain less than 1 gram of tobacco each. A cigar typically contains about 5 to 20 grams of tobacco.
• Wrapper: Cigars have less porous wrappers than cigarettes, which makes the burning of the tobacco inside less complete.
• Tar: Cigars have more tar per gram of tobacco smoked when compared to cigarettes.

Possible Dangers

The differences between cigars and cigarettes listed above account for many of the reasons that cigars are actually worse for you than cigarettes in most cases. First of all, the ingredients in cigars are in such larger quantities that many cigar smokers don’t realize the impact. For example, it could take 15 to 20 cigarettes to equal the same amount of tobacco in one large cigar. Therefore, regular cigar smokers often don’t realize that their habit could be the equivalent of smoking a pack a day – or more.
(If you’re trying to kick the habit, read Tips On How To Quit Smoking As Soon As Possible.)
Secondly, the size of the cigar accounts for much more exposure to second-hand cigar smoke. In addition to the cigar smoke that goes inside a smoker’s mouth and throat, many of these individuals sit in a cigar smoke-filled area for an hour or more while they smoke. In addition to that, it can take hours for that smoke to dissipate inside someone’s home. This second-hand smoke contains dozens of cancer-causing chemicals, some of which occur in higher quantities than in cigarette smoke. This is partially due to the cigars’ nonporous wrappers which lead to an increase in toxin concentration.
The process by which cigars are made also makes them a health hazard. The fermentation process used for cigar tobacco leads to high concentrations of nitrosamines, which can cause cancer.
Despite this information, cigarettes are just as bad for you. Both cigars and cigarettes can cause numerous types of cancer, including cancer of the lungs, mouth, tongue and esophagus. In addition, oral diseases such as gum disease may occur as the result of smoking. Cardiovascular diseases like heart disease, coronary artery disease, COPD and emphysema are much more common among smokers than non-smokers.

Myths About Cigars

Many cigarette smokers try smoking cigars because they believe they are less harmful. However, most of the myths about cigars aren’t true. For example:

• Cigars aren’t addictive. Cigars contain high levels of nicotine, which is the chemical that causes addiction. You can still get nicotine in your system even if you don’t inhale the smoke into your lungs because it is also absorbed through the lining in the mouth.
• Not inhaling makes them safer. Cigar smokers usually don’t inhale the smoke. However, that just means that they are more likely to get cancer in their lips, mouth, tongue or throat instead of in their lungs. The health risks still exist and the smoker is still exposed to cancer-causing chemicals.
• Cigars don’t have Surgeon General’s health warnings, so they are safer. Unfortunately, cigars are not regulated in the same way as cigarettes. Many are sold without any health warning label, particularly those which are imported. This lack of regulations can actually lead to cigars being more hazardous to your health than cigarettes.

It’s important to remember that, even if cigars are often worse for your health compared to cigarettes, neither of these smoking options are good for you. Both products are highly addictive and there is no safe level of tobacco use. There are several ways you can get help to quit smoking, including the Cancer.gov website (link below).

Sources:

• Mayo Clinic
• Cancer.gov
• QuitSmokingSupport.com

Craig David and Lisa Stansfield Accused to Support Big Tobacco

Three famous British performers have been blamed of supporting the goals of "Big Tobacco" by agreeing to

participate at an Indonesian music festivity financed by one of the country's biggest cigarette companies.
Multi-platinum selling artist Joss Stone should participate at the Java Jazz Festival this week in the billing which also features Craig David and Lisa Stansfield as performers at a three-day festival estimated to be visited by more than 100,000 people in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.
The event's principal sponsor is Djarum, the country's third largest cigarette company, which similar to some other producers specializes in the manufacture of clove-flavored cigarettes called “kreteks”. All invited British stars should perform on a stage advertising one of Djarum's major brands.
Campaigners called on the artists to not take part in the festival, blaming Indonesia of not being able to eradicate on tobacco advertising and permitting companies to advertise their products and lure new young smokers by means of an affiliation with worldwide stars and diverse cultural events. David, who several weeks ago agreed upon a new deal with Universal records and is planning to start a world tour, declined the statements, stating he promoted healthy lifestyle and was against smoking but legal guidelines against tobacco was an issue for the Indonesian regulators.
Indonesia has the world's greatest smoking rate for men, about 66%. Additionally Indonesian research found a year ago that more than 400,000 children are regular smokers.
The British singers do not have a special agreement with Djarum, which is a component of a conglomerate held by two of Indonesia's wealthiest men and the most notable of some corporate beneficiaries of the three-day festival. But critics claim that the stars are even so promoting the advertising of cigarettes implying strategies long-since prohibited in other places. The Marlboro Man is still advertised on Indonesian billboards hiking mountains while young women in branded clothes are frequently to be observed at corporate events giving out free samples of Marlboro cigarettes. Cigarette sponsorship has been taken away from latest shows by well known American performers. Advertising by Djarum for a Kelly Clarkson concert was removed after strong protests by fans and anti-tobacco organizations while Grammy-winner Alicia Keys required that sponsorship of one of her concerts by another company be eliminated.

Cigar vs. Cigarette

Despite the fact that both cigars and cigarettes possess tobacco the main difference is that a cigar is wrapped in tobacco leaf, or any other material containing tobacco. But tobacco in cigarettes is wrapped in paper. Generally cigars are bigger and thicker than cigarettes, they last longer and posses more tobacco and of course costly. 

Tobacco and Nicotine Content 

One cigar can possess as much tobacco as a whole cigarette pack. Cigars generally have between 100 to 200 mg of nicotine each while a cigarettes about 10mg. 

 How to Smoke a Cigar and a Cigarette

 Before smoking a cigar, you should cut it appropriately by inserting the cigar into special cutter and cut it about 1/16 to 1/8 inch from the end. When lighting the cigar, hold it around the band with your fingers and place into your mouth. While puffing rotate the cigar without allowing it to touch the flame. Rotate it for at least 10 to 15 seconds. Cigarettes are easier to smoke, a single puff is usually enough to light a cigarette. The smoke is inhaled when smoking a cigarette.

The main difference is that when lighting a cigar, the smoke is not inhaled. Unlike cigarette smoke, you are able to enjoy the taste of a cigar smoke only in your mouth without taking it into your lungs.

Slogans for new anti smoking ads

The believing we do something when we do nothing is the first illusion of tobacco.

• Be Cool - Don't Be a Smoking Fool.
• Be smart don't start.
• Breathe healthily, live happily.
• Cancer cures smoking.
• Cigarettes burn holes in your pocket.
• Cough twice for Philip Morris.
• Did you know your mouth is on fire?
• Don't be a butthead. Smoking kills.
• Don't be a Kool Fool.
• Don't puff your life away.
• Don't smoke you will choke!
• Don't smoke - there are cooler ways to die.
• Everyone has a right to clean air.
• Hang Tough, Don't Puff!
• Health is wealth.
• How the Tobacco Industry Killed American Soldiers
• I like smoking. It kills off a lot of stupid people.
• I quit because my kids love me.
• I would give up smoking but I’m not a quitter.
• If God had wanted us to smoke, he would have given us a separate hole for it.
• If we see smoke, we will assume you are on fire and take appropriate action. (in a non-smoking area)
• If you can’t stop smoking, cancer will.
• If you don’t smoke, I won’t fart!
• If you smoke, you're a joke.
• If you think smoking is cool, you're a fool.
• Is smoking good for business? Not if you want long-term customers.
• Kissing a smoker is like licking an ashtray.
• Live it or Burn it...
• Make your choices, it's your life.
• No smoke no life, but No life with smoke.
• Please keep smoking. Our planet is overcrowded.
• Put it out before it puts you out.
• Put your money where your butt is.
• Quit smoking. It kills!
• Quit smoking before smoking quits you.
• Save Money - Quit Smoking!

 

Movies with Smoking Scenes Should Have R- rating

Brad Pitt’s personage in Snatch, Mickey O'Neil, possesses all traits of classic Hollywood film. He is fully confident and attacks as a real professional, and as Al Pacino in Scarface, he smokes. It is already proved that children imitate media. The Surgeon General declared that smoking really makes teens smoke. It is prohibited to light up in TV commercials, so why can we smoke in movies?

Actions to prohibit smoking in movies have started several years ago; however no formal policy is currently in place. James Sargent, representative of the Cancer Control Research Program at the Norris Cotton Cancer Center, analyzed the consequences of exposing teenagers to any movie showing smoking scenes. The results demonstrated that after watching such films, children were more likely to pick the habit. There was an evident link between the film industry’s use of smoking scenes in films and the increasing number of youngsters trying as well as regularly smoking. And after another study, Mr. Sargent and his team found all answers – the movie rating.

Film smoking exposure (FSE) was evaluated basing on the monitoring of 530 block busters. Each movie was divided according to the respective ratings fixed by the Motion Picture Association of America as: G/PG, PG-13, and R respectively. Despite the fact that median FSE was higher for PG-13 movies in comparison to that of R-rated films, their relation to smoking was similar. All these results provided scientists with an amazing conclusion – it was the smoking itself that prompted teenagers to smoke, and not the vulgar behavior often associated with adult movies. Thus, Mr. Sargent and his colleagues concluded that allowing R rating for any movie depicting smoking “could significantly decrease adolescent smoking.” He adds that it might even guarantee a 16% drop. So, Mr. Sargent calls on the film industry to undertake similar actions as they did in considering scenes of violence and sex.

A new R rating could decrease smoking among youngsters, but wouldn’t it just delay the eventual affirmation of tobacco use? Such a rating might prevent some things, but it is unable to prevent the inevitable. Mr. Sargent agreed with the above statement; however he added that older teens of 17 years old and higher are more likely to make right choices, than children at 12 or 14, as they have a higher maturity level.

Racial Discrepancies in Smoking-Related Morbidity

It was estimated that approximately 443,000 deaths in the United States happen each year because of smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke. All these deaths cost the nation $97 billion on lost productivity and $96 billion in health-care costs. Only in Missouri smoking lead to 9,600 deaths during 2000-2004. In order to restrict the dangerous health consequences of smoking, states decided to introduce comprehensive tobacco cessation programs which would detect inequalities among population and target those incommensurable affected by secondhand smoke.

The given report also compares the national health burden of smoking among whites and Afro-Americans in Missouri by evaluating the number of smoking related deaths in these population groups within 2003-2007. The data show that the average annual smoking related morbidity level in the state constituted 18% higher for Afro-Americans than for whites. The relative difference in smoking related morbidity levels between Afro-Americans and whites was higher for men – 28% than women 11%. For Missouri, these findings are an important criterion for estimating the success of tobacco control programs in lowering the consequences of tobacco use.

During 2003-2007, smoking lead to 9,377 deaths - 8,400 among whites and 853 among Afro-Americans. For instance in Missouri were registered 18% (51,856) of deaths among persons aged 35. Smoking caused 32% of deaths from cancer, 15% circulatory deaths, and 46 % of all respiratory deaths in Missouri within this time. For both Afro-Americans and whites, the major cause of smoking related deaths was cancer.

However smoking related mortality for Afro-Americans constituted only 9% of the total number of deaths, the same rate for Afro-Americans in Missouri was 18% higher than for whites. Also was registered a significant discrepancy, 28% of death among black men and 11% among Afro-American women.

The smoking – related years of potential life lost (YPLL) level for Afro-Americans also constituted 18%, this is higher than for whites and differed most for men. Afro-American men had an YPLL rate 25% higher than white men, and the same was for women.

Differences in smoking-related morbidity exist all over the world and happen because of variations in population demographics and smoking. Also differences in tobacco cessation programs, policies and tobacco industry occur in this field. Racial and ethnic discrepancies in smoking-related mortality are also associated with social status, levels of cigarette smoking and not the least but the last the differences in genetic factors.

Essential racial discrepancies in smoking-related morbidity existed in Missouri during 2003—2007, with a number of 52 per 100,000 more Afro-American dying each year from smoking.

Household environmental tobacco smoke and risks of asthma

The reported prevalence of childhood asthma/wheeze is increasing around the world. The changing pattern of these diseases has not been fully explained, in part because of an incomplete understanding of its pathogenesis. The change has been too rapid to be accounted for by changes in gene frequencies. It is also unlikely that it can be totally accounted for by changes in either clinical diagnostic patterns or increased recognition of respiratory symptoms by the general population.
This shift does, however, suggest a role for environmental exposures in the etiology of this evolving epidemic. It is estimated that around 1.3 billion people worldwide smoke, and the number is predicted to increase in the coming years as smoking rates continue to increase among youth, primarily among young girls.
Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is common in children and causes substantial morbidity. Estimates of population attributable risk for household ETS exposure in children range from 9% for asthma prevalence to 25% for hospital admissions due to respiratory symptoms. The World Health Organization estimates that approximately half of the children in the world are exposed to ETS, mostly in their homes. In Taiwan, schoolchildren are not typically exposed in public due to the legislative ban on public smoking and regular health promotion campaigns; home exposure is likely the dominant source of ETS. It was reported that approximately 60% Taiwanese children under the age of 17 were exposed to household ETS, and therefore an estimated 3.3 million children were at risk for adverse health effects from this exposure.
Evidence of the effects of ETS exposure on childhood respiratory outcomes is inconsistent. Although an effect for paternal smoking has been reported, exposure to maternal smoking has consistently had the strongest association with adverse respiratory health effects. The strength of the association between maternal smoking and asthma/wheeze is in part due to larger ETS doses from maternal smoking than from other sources. Although there is evidence that maternal smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of asthma/wheeze in childhood, the effects of in utero exposure on the occurrence of respiratory symptoms have not been extensively studied or compared with other household sources of ETS.
The Taiwan Children Health Study (TCHS) offers an opportunity to investigate the effects of household ETS exposure on the occurrence of respiratory symptoms in Taiwanese children. At cohort entry, we used lifetime tobacco smoke exposure histories to investigate the relationships of multiple sources of ETS exposure with parental- reported respiratory outcomes. The individual and joint effects of parental smoking habits were also examined for associations with early-onset and late-onset childhood asthma.