Dail 1800 227787 to quit

A National Tobacco Cessation Quit Line - 1800 227787 - is available on all days from 9 am to 9 pm for all those seeking support to quit the butt.

The toll-free Quit Line, launched last World No Tobacco Day, will provide free support and guidance to tobacco users to overcome their addiction and increase their chances of quitting successfully. 

This Quit Line is designed to help tobacco users by answering their queries, formulating a personalised quit plan depending on their tobacco consumption pattern (cigarettes, beedis and other forms of chewing tobacco) and supporting them through the entire 12 week journey of quitting tobacco through a combination of phone calls, SMSs, emails and hand deliveries. 

Callers will receive tobacco cessation counselling in English, Hindi and other languages. 

This free of charge service can be used by all tobacco users, friends and families of tobacco users and even healthcare practitioners seeking to provide tobacco cessation therapy for their patients. 

To support the telephone counselling, callers wanting on-ground support will be referred to a local Tobacco Intervention Initiative (TII) centre of the Indian Dental Association (IDA). At each centre  dentists trained in tobacco cessation will help tobacco users give up their addiction and improve their health. There are 500 TII centres across India.

Source: NWN News

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Generic cigarette packs could cut smoking: New study

A new study suggests generic packaging could significantly decrease the number of adults who smoke and lead to a decrease in the number of children who try cigarettes.  

Generic packaging, which does not use brand imagery or promotional text, would reduce the number of adult smokers by 1 percent and the number of children who try smoking by 3 percent, researchers found after evaluating the professional opinions of 33 tobacco control experts.

In the United Kingdom, where approximately 10 million adults smoke, a 1 percent decrease in smokers means about 500,000 fewer people lighting up.

Plain packaging helps reduce smoking rates in young people because it makes cigarettes look less appealing, lessens brand identification , and creates a change in the social norms associated with smoking, the study found.

“Given that the majority of smokers first try smoking in adolescence, the impact on children is of particular importance,” said Rachel Pechey, first author of the study from the University of Cambridge’s Behavior and Health Research Unit.

The experts who participated in the study believe it takes about two years for decreases in smoking rates to start taking effect once a plain-packaging strategy is implemented in a particular country. But the impact of the strategy may well go beyond what tobacco control experts have predicted.

“Despite the consistency of experts’ predictions that plain packaging would reduce smoking rates, many participants felt that the two-year time frame we used was insufficient and did not allow for the full impact of the packaging. This suggests generic packaging could have a greater impact over a longer term period,” Pechey said.

In December 2012, Australia became the first country to implement plain packaging.

The research took the opinions of 14 experts from the UK, 12 from Australasia and 7 from North America on the impact plain packaging would have on smoking habits.

Source: Livescience

Image: Marketing Magazine

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Acid in gutkha spits corrodes the famous Howrah bridge

It was first reported in 2010 that the pillars of Kolkata's landmark Howrah bridge were being used as spittoons by pedestrians who chewed gutkha – a tobacco product popular with millions in India.

Engineers who surveyed the cantilever structure then reported that the struts supporting the girders of the bridge had already lost half of their metal casing: The corrosion was apparently caused by acids in the gutkha.

Gutkha is a commercially produced pre-packaged mixture of crushed betel nut, tobacco, lime, paraffin, and other "secret" ingredients, many of which are carcinogenic and addictive.

Some brands of gutkha also contain lead, arsenic, chromium, nickel, and cadmium, which are as bad as nicotine. To make its shelf life longer, magnesium carbonate – which is used in fire extinguishers and is a known carcinogen – is also added to gutkha.

If this is what acids in gutkha can do to a high-tensil steel bars of the bridge, little wonder on what it can do the human body.

Source: CNBC

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Centre asks states to be strict on tobacco ads

The Central Government has sent an advisory to states reminding them to follow rules in restricting advertisement of cigarette and other tobacco products inside shops selling them.

The advisory has asked state governments to implement rules, which stipulates a particular size for tobacco advertising boards inside shop without any illumination, one-third of which will carry a warning message in local language.

Even though the rules were framed in 2005, the advisory was repeated following a Supreme Court directive earlier this month to vacate a stay given by Bombay High Court in 2006 on these rules.  

Among other things, it gave specifications for advertisement at the entrance of or inside of a shop or warehouse (point of sale) selling tobacco products. 

In a letter to Chief Secretaries in the state, Shri Keshav Desiraju, a special secretary in the Union Health Ministry said size of these display boards should not exceed 60 cm x 45 cm, one third of which will contain an warning message prominently either saying 'tobacco causes cancer' or 'tobacco kills.'

Source: Deccan Herald

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Bollywood actors denounce smoking

After Rajinikanth, it is popular Hindi film actors who have publicly come out to denounce smoking.

Shah Rukh Khan, touted as the King of Bollywood, in a tweet has said, “Smoking is similar to hitting yourself over the head with a hammer because, when you stop ... you feel better ...” 

Khan has been under pressure from family, especially his daughter, to give up the habit. He landed into legal trouble for smoking publicly during a IPL cricket match at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur.

Another long-time smoker, actor Saif Ali Khan has also spoken about smoking harms one's health. In an interview, he called himself an "anti-smoking agent". 

"If you don't smoke or drink and respect your body, you can look great at 42. On the other hand, if you smoke and take drugs, you must realise that you are not in your 20s and you're not going to get away with it," the heartthrob of many has been quoted as saying.

"Even drinking and smoking have becoming boring and repetitive like all other negative things. It feels great to wake up feeling healthy, awake and alert," he added.

Image courtesy: Pardaphash

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15 ways how smoking ruins one's appearance

Smoking ruins one's appearance ... here's how

1. Bags under the eyes - Smokers are four times as likely as non-smokers to report feeling un-rested after a night's sleep, according to a study by Johns Hopkins University. It is also possible that nightly nicotine withdrawal leads to disturbed and fitful sleep. 

2. Psoriasis - With smoking, the risk of psoriasis - an autoimmune-related skin condition that manifests as scaly skin - goes up a lot. According to a 2007 study, in smokers who puff a pack a day for 10 years or less, psoriasis risk goes up 20 per cent; with 11-20 years, risk increases by 60 per cent. The risk of psoriasis doubles in those who have been smoking for over two decades. 

3. Icky teeth - Nicotine in cigarettes can stain teeth. So in addition to the escalating costs of buying and smoking cigarettes, smokers would have to shell out hard-earning money in periodic visits to the dentist to clean up the stains. 

4. Premature aging and wrinkles - Experts agree that smoking accelerates aging, so that smokers look 1.4 years older than non-smokers, on average. Smoking hampers the blood supply that keeps skin tissue looking supple and healthy.

5. Yellow fingers - The nicotine in cigarette smoke can not only make teeth brown, but it is also notorious for staining fingers and nails as well.

6. Thinner hair - Smoking hurts the hair too. Experts think the toxic chemicals in smoke can damage the DNA in hair follicles and generate cell-damaging free radicals as well. Smokers have thinner hair that tends to go gray sooner than non-smokers. 

Men who smoke are about twice as likely to lose their hair as non-smokers, after taking into account factors that increase the risk of baldness, such as aging and genetics, according to a 2007 study in Taiwan.

7. Scarring - Nicotine causes vasoconstriction, a narrowing of the blood vessels that can limit oxygen-rich blood flow to the tiny vessels in the face or other parts of the body. In smokers, wounds will take longer to heal and leave scars that are bigger and redder than non-smokers. 

8. Tooth loss - Smokers face are at greater risk from all kinds of dental problems, including oral cancer and gum disease. In fact, according to a 2005 UK study in the Journal of Clinical Periodontology, smokers are up to six times more likely than non-smokers to develop gum disease, which can lead to tooth loss.

9. Natural glow is gone - Smoking causes certain facial characteristics, such as wrinkles, gauntness, and a gray appearance of the skin. 

Cigarette smoke contains carbon monoxide, which displaces the oxygen in the skin, and nicotine, which reduces blood flow, leaving skin dry and discoloured. Cigarette smoking also depletes many nutrients, including vitamin C, which helps protect and repair skin damage.

10. Wound healing - Several studies have found that smokers do not heal as well after surgeries such as face-lifts, tooth extractions, and periodontal procedures.

11. Warts - Smokers are more susceptible to infection with human papilloma virus (HPV), a large family of viruses that can cause warts—including genital warts.While genital warts are caused by sexually transmitted types of HPV, smoking is also a risk factor. Even taking the number of sex partners into account, women who smoke are nearly four times as likely to have genital warts as non-smokers, according to one study.

12. Skin cancer - Smoking is a leading cause of cancer, including lung, throat, mouth, and esophageal cancer, so it should be no surprise that cigarettes can also increases the risk of skin cancer. According to a 2001 study, smokers are three times as likely to develop squamous cell carcinoma, the second most common type of skin cancer, than non-smokers.

13. Stretch marks - The nicotine found in cigarettes damages the fibres and connective tissue of the skin, causing it to lose elasticity and strength. Cigarettes contribute to creating stretch marks and red skin striations. 

14. Flabby tummy - Cigarettes can be an appetite suppressant, and often smokers have a lower body weight than non-smokers. A 2009 study in the Netherlands found that smokers had more visceral fat than non-smokers. This deep fat pads internal organs and can accumulate in the midsection, ultimately increasing the risk of other diseases, such as diabetes.

15. Cataracts - Cigarette smoking can increase the risk of cataracts by putting oxidative stress on the lens of the eye. Studies have shown that continued smoking can add up to a 22 percent increased risk of cataract extraction, according to one study. 

Source: MSN

Image courtesy: BBC

Note on the image - Twins, 22, made up to show how they would look at 40 if Kirsty, left, was a smoker and Kelly, right, was not

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SC asks Centre to regulate tobacco advertisements at shops

The Supreme Court has paved the way for the Centre to regulate the rules on advertisement of tobacco products at their sale outlets as per which displaying ads larger than sixty centimetres by forty-five cm at shops is barred.

A bench headed by Justice GS Singhvi allowed the Centre to enforce Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Rules, 2004, also known as Point of Sale rules, for regulating the advertisements at shops selling tobacco products.

The apex court vacated seven-year-long stay on implementing the rule, imposed by the Bombay High Court in 2005 and said there is total frustration of the objectives of the Act due to stay on its implementation.

The high court in an interim order passed in 2005, had stayed the implementation of Point of Sale Rules of tobacco products.

The rule says each board shall contain in an Indian language warnings that 'tobacco causes cancer' or 'tobacco kills' and it should be prominently displayed measuring twenty centimetres by fifteen centimetres.

The apex court passed the order on a PIL by an NGO Health For Millions which contended that the rules be strictly implemented as being a signatory to international treaty, Framework Convention of Tobacco Control (FCTC), India has to impose a comprehensive ban on all advertisements, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products to reduce tobacco consumption globally.

The court after a brief hearing issued notice to the Centre and the tobacco companies asking it to file their replies within four weeks and vacated the stay imposed by the high court.

Source: DNA

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