Tobacco Free Kerala

Tuesday, 22 May 2012

Tobacco use behind dreadful oral cancer

It is not a new piece of information that tobacco use causes the dreadful oral cancer. The pain and trauma suffered by victims of oral cancer however justifies the multiple reiterations of the message. In fact, the more said, the better.

Regional Cancer Centre, a member of Tobacco Free Kerala coalition recently organised a workshop to educate dental professionals on their role in preventing and controlling oral cancer – the leading cancer among males in Kerala.

Shri.V.S.Sivakumar, Hon'ble Health Minister of Kerala and the Chairman of Tobacco Free Kerala coalition inaugurated the workshop, which was conducted to explore and discuss the opportunities and challenges for dental practitioners and surgeons in early detection of oral cancers. Dr.Paul Sebastian, Director, RCC, and the Vice Chairman of Tobacco Free Kerala coalition presided over.

The workshop gave give special focus to tobacco control, considering that Kerala has one of the highest incidences of tobacco related cancers, particularly oral cancer in India.

A session on 'Tobacco Control: Where we stand and what next?’, handled by Dr.R.Jayakrishnan, Asst.Professor, Community Oncology Division, RCC pointed out that tobacco related diseases, particularly cancers, have become nightmarish to man in recent decades and continues to lead the table among top ten oral male cancers in India. Nearly nine lakh people die annually in India due to tobacco use.

The workshop was organised with the support of National Rural Health Mission, Kerala and Indian Dental Association (IDA), Kerala State.

New Indian Express, 20 May 2012

Friday, 18 May 2012

E-cigarettes - No promise, only peril

In the last couple of days, there were media reports stating that popular Bollywood actor Sonam Kapoor has endorsed electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) as an alternative to smoking.

In a tweet, the actor wrote, "Smoking is seriously not good! There are electric cigs available now. A lot of my friends are using them. I know of people who smoke e-ciggies to give up smoking or cut down on the number of cigarettes per day."

While her anti-smoking advocacy is indeed welcome and noble - we in fact need more popular icons to tackle this public health menace - what Sonam has probably missed out is that e-ciggies are equally harmful, if not more.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), had in 2009, clearly articulated the dangerous effects of e-cigarettes. Laboratory analysis of e-cigarettes showed that they contained carcinogens and toxic chemicals such as diethylene glycol, an ingredient used in antifreeze.

Electronic cigarettes are battery-operated devices that generally contain cartridges filled with nicotine, flavor and other chemicals. The electronic cigarette turns nicotine, which is highly addictive, and other chemicals into a vapour that is inhaled by the user.

Specific analyses of two leading brands by FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation, Division of Pharmaceutical Analysis (DPA) revealed the approximate presence of 1 per cent diethylene glycol in one cartridge.

Tobacco-specific impurities suspected of being harmful to humans—anabasine, myosmine, and β-nicotyrine—were detected in a majority of the samples tested. Certain tobacco-specific nitrosamines which are human carcinogens were detected in half of the samples tested. For more, FDA's analysis, click here

Quite literally, use of e-cigarettes would be akin to jumping from frying pan to fire! E-cigarettes are not an alternative to smoking, period!

Image courtesy: FDA

Tuesday, 15 May 2012

I&B Ministry's decision on tobacco-free movies and television rules a shocker

The decision of the Union Ministry of Information & Broadcasting to keep the tobacco-free movies and television rules issued by the Union Health Ministry in abeyance has come a shock.

Senior experts such as Former Justice Narayana Kurup, Kerala High Court, known for his pioneering judgement on ban of public smoking in 1999 and Shri.Roscotte Krishna Pillai Former Director of Press Information Bureau and Former Member, Advisory Panels for Film Certification and Central Board of Film Certification have decried the decision of the Ministry.