Tobacco control measures in Rajasthan: UN mission to visit state

Exemplary work done by the Rajasthan government in tobacco control has attracted the attention of a joint mission of the UN inter-agency task force on prevention and control of non-communicable diseases, which is visiting Rajasthan next month. 

In a letter to state's principal secretary, medical and health, WHO representative to India Dr Nata Menabde mentioned, "The main focus of the visit will be to create a forum for highlighting lessons learned in formulating multi-sectoral coordination for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and tobacco control and identify challenges in the prevention and control of NCDs at state level." The team of officials will visit the state on December 11. 

The mission members will discuss with the state officials about the distinction of Rajasthan as the first state in India with a mandatory requirement for government job aspirants to file an undertaking for not using tobacco products in any form (smoking or chewing forms), declaration of all educational institutions in the state as tobacco-free institutions as per government of India guidelines and imposition of the highest rate of VAT on all tobacco products.

The team will comprise officials from WHO, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and the World Bank with participants from their headquarters, regional and country office. 

The visit will be coordinated by the WHO country office for India in close collaboration with the ministry of health and family welfare and office of the UN resident coordinator in India. The efforts are being made to intensify fight against NCDs as it is currently leading cause of morbidity and mortality in India. 

Nata pointed out in the letter, "In September 2011, heads of state and government adopted the political declaration of the high-level meeting on prevention and control of NCDs during the general assembly of UN. The declarations called upon WHO, as the lead UN specialized agency for health, and all other UN system agencies and international financial institutions to work together in a coordinated manner to support national efforts to prevent and control NCDs and mitigate their impacts." 

Tobacco control and NCD nodal officer (state) Dr Sunil Singh said, "Rajasthan won two WHO's director general awards in two successive years for its efforts on tobacco control. We have banned gutkha and introduced Pehal, an online counseling for tobacco addict." 

The UN inter agency task force (UNIATF), which will visit the state was established to coordinate the activities of the relevant UN funds, programmes and specialized agencies and other intergovernmental organizations to support realization of the commitments made in the political declaration. In particular, through implementation of the WHO global action plan on NCDs 2013-2020. 

In this regard, a joint mission of the UNIATF is visiting India during December 8-12, 2014. The joint mission is intended to enhance the support of the UN agencies to the government of India to scale up the national multi-sectoral response to NCDs.

Courtesy: Times of India

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Living with a smoker equals breathing the air in world's most polluted cities

Living with a smoker can be like breathing the air in the world’s most polluted cities, according to a new study from Scotland.

According to lead author Sene Semple of the of the Scottish Center for Indoor Air at the University of Aberdeen, smoking in  home leads to really poor air quality and results in concentrations of fine particles. 

Tiny particles 2.5 microns in diameter or smaller, known as PM2.5, can penetrate deep into the lungs and even enter the blood. They’ve been linked to heart disease, strokes and cancer.

“Making your home smoke-free is key to reducing your exposure to PM2.5; for non-smokers who live with a smoker the impact of implementing smoke-free house rules would reduce their daily intake of PM2.5 by 70 percent or more,” Semple said. 

Such tiny particles typically result from combustion. Outdoors, the primary sources are vehicle exhaust, power plants and wildfires. Indoors, wood-burning or coal-burning stoves, gas cooking and heating fires and tobacco smoke are the most common sources of PM2.5 in the air.

For outdoor air, the World Health Organization says the safe exposure limit for PM2.5 particles is an average of 25 micrograms, or 25 millionths of a gram, per cubic meter of air over a 24-hour period, or average annual levels of 10 micrograms per cubic meter.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sets the 24-hour limit at an average of 12 micrograms.

Semple and his colleagues wanted to bring together two scientific communities: those involved in tobacco control work and those interested in outdoor air pollution and health. “We think there is a lot that each can learn from the other,” he said.

Many studies have examined outdoor air pollution or indoor air quality in workplaces. But home is where most people spend the majority of their time, particularly small children and homebound elderly people, the researchers write. By comparing indoor air pollution in the homes of smokers and non-smokers, then comparing that to the most polluted cities, they hoped to illustrate the perils of indoor tobacco smoke over a lifetime.

The study team looked at data from four separate studies that measured PM2.5 levels in 93 Scottish homes where people smoked and 17 homes that were smoke free.

On average, PM2.5 levels in smokers' homes were around 31 micrograms per cubic meter – 10 times greater than the average of 3 micrograms in non-smoking homes.

There was a wide range of smoke concentrations in the smokers’ homes, however, and in one quarter of them, the 24-hour averages were 111 micrograms.

Semple pointed out, “A considerable proportion of smokers’ homes had air pollution levels that were the same or higher than the annual average PM2.5 concentration measured in Beijing,” a heavily polluted city.

The study team estimates that over a lifetime, a non-smoker living with a smoker will inhale about 6 grams more particulate matter than a non-smoker living in a smoke-free home.

Semple said that isn’t much, but this amount is likely to "have a substantial effect on the risk of developing diseases of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems.”

Semple said smokers often express the view that outdoor traffic pollution is a bigger problem than second-hand smoke pollution in the home.

“What this work shows is that, for most people living outside of major heavily polluted mega-cities like Beijing or Delhi, outdoor air pollution is much, much lower than what is measured inside homes where someone smokes,” he said.

Source: Reuters

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Tobacco packets to devote 85 per cent space to warnings

India has made it mandatory for tobacco companies to devote 85 per cent space on packets of cigarettes and other tobacco products to warnings against the ill effects of tobacco consumption.

"We have issued a notification to ensure that in the next few months cigarette manufacturers have 85 per cent space on packets covered with either pictorial warnings or messages warning against the perils of tobacco use," Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan announced in New Delhi at a function on the occasion of global hand washing day.

The guidelines would come into effect from April 1, 2015. 

As of now, tobacco companies are required to devote only 40 per cent of the space on packets to pictorial warnings against tobacco use.

Mr Harsh Vardhan said, "In my career as a doctor, I have seen smokers and tobacco users die in front of me. We should do whatever we can to make people aware."

With this, India will join Thailand where 85 percent of space on packs of cigarette and other tobacco products is covered with warnings. 

India will now rank first in the list of 198 countries that warn smokers about the hazards of smoking through graphic pictures on cigarette packets.

In Australia, it is 82.5 per cent and in Uruguay, it 80 per cent. 

India's ranking had dropped down to 136 out of 198 among countries, which include pictorial health warnings on cigarette packets.

According to the notification issued: "The specified health warning shall cover at least 85 per cent of the principal display area of the package, of which 60 percent shall cover pictorial health warning and 25 percent shall cover textual health warning and shall be positioned on the top edge of the package".

For packages containing smoking forms of tobacco, the pictorial warnings would be of throat cancer, and for chewable tobacco products, they would be of mouth cancer.

The notification said the health warnings shall be expressed in English or any Indian language. 

"The specified health warning on tobacco product packages shall be rotated every 24 months from the date of commencement of these rules or before the period of rotation as may be specified by the central government notification," it said.

"The size of all components of the specified health warning shall be increased proportionally according to increase in package size to ensure that the specified health warning covers 85 percent of the principal display area".

Source: NDTV

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