India facing smoking death crisis

nadreg

One million people a year will die from tobacco smoking in India during the 2010s, research predicts.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7239722.stm

Frightening statistics...

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maypacheco

the way i look at it... most of the time smoking is at the option of the individual.. although it takes a strong will power to quit..

what about the pollution in the cities that we are exposed to and have no choice but to breathe in...that too surely contributes at a lot of related diseases and ailments which lead to death...

brownboy66

A good friend of mine worked in a senior position in a tobacco company for several years - based in Asia. Talking to her about it, the deliberate and calculated nature of the marketing campaigns was quite shocking. Every business has a target market - but somehow the way tobacco companies target low income sections of the community in developing countries as a means of building market share is frightening! And lets not forget - tobacco is addictive.

Funnily enough - she now works in a public hospital. Good form of atonement I guess.

Nick-H

The European/American tobacco markets are shrinking. Even the powerful lobby has not been able to prevent the erosion of the 'right' to smoke in public and the education and growing awareness of the risks.

So, the less educated the market the better. And, the bigger, of course.

Probably, one day, we'll find people posting about how much good the tobacco companies did for India....

(feeling cynical today).

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shashank.aggarwal

hmmm...tobacco advertisement is banned in India for few years now..so no marketing campaigns etc...

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brownboy66

arrrgghhh....I know what you mean. I'm just not in the mood to read those threads at the moment, and if I contributed it would not be pleasant.

Nick-H

How are they managing to get market, then?

Just curious. As a non smoker I'm blind to all the tobacco stuff anyway.

brownboy66

I would guess maybe through sport sponsorship, maybe involvement in movies, stuff like that?

Hey shashank. A marketing campaign is not confined to advertising alone - and will often include things like sponsorship, charities, hosting events, etc. Its all part of getting the brand/ message out there. Tobacco companies have been very inventive in the past few years as more and more countries ban the advertising of tobacco. Hence you find them sponsoring F1 car and motorcycle racing (although that's been restricted by most governments in recent years as well)

maypacheco

& i guess at least in urban india, todays' young generation and fast lifestyles help promote and spread the addiction...

i work in the bpo / kpo industry and every second person in the hallway is down for a smoke.. and am continously amazed at the number of female smokers around... with all the publicity and awareness about the dangers, would have thought that at least in the urban india, that would deter people...

well it's some addiction / fad i guess

vargoje3

Not that impressive if you stop to think that India has over one BILLION people......

Nick-H

It begins as a fad and quickly becomes an addiction. At least that's my personal experience from forty years ago.

Then it's bloody difficult to stop.

I was really angry that the New Indian Express, one day last week, published what was, effectively, a full-page advertisement for wine. I wrote and asked them why they should include the 'fact' that a glass of wine a day is good for the heart, without also mentioning that it rots the liver, and that perhaps more social ills stem from alcohol than any other drug in the world. I asked the editor to consider how many deaths his article might cause.

I didn't get a reply, of course.

maypacheco

well today apart from an article in the papers about the goodness of wine, you find so many mentions about what growth / potential the nascent wine industry in india has and there are so many wine tasting sessions being held to educate people about wine.. it's quite the "in" thing in the social circuit and my guess is it's the next fad on the path to addiction...

but on the other hand what about all those studies in teh west and europe about the goodness of wine, if taken in moderation??

Prashant.M

I sometimes feel that the alcohol industry is being proactive and is trying to ward off the bad image that tobacco industry has acquired. I think the negative effects of alcohol outweigh the benefits. There are better ways of getting the same benefits. BTW I do drink.

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vargoje3

It has been proven that a glass of wine a day or just one alcohol drink a day is in fact good for your health. One drink a day will not "rot" your liver, that comes after years of alcoholism and other types of substance abuse. The liver only starts to degrade when it encounters alcohol in excess of what it can clean out of your body, and one drink a day will not do this. When i was in India it was an everynight occasion to sit down at the patio w/ a bonfire and share a couple kingfishers w/ good friends. Wouldn't give that up for anything.

Just because someone enjoys a good glass of wine doesn't mean there going to become addicted to alcohol.

Nick-H

I doubt that very much.

It is accepted that red wine contains substances which are beneficial to the heart --- however, so does grape juice.

As to the 'proof', I would suggest investigation as to who sponsored the research.

These are the points that I recall from a lecture by a senior heart surgeon (it was among many subjects that he covered)... such research has been found by him to often be related to the French wine industry... French wine drinkers die of other problems, eg liver-related, before the benefit to the heart... Alcohol is a poison, and it cannot be claimed that any amount of it is good for you... Drink red grape juice, you will get the benefit without the the poisons.

I don't drink, because I don't particularly like it. I still don't call myself a non-drinker, and certainly reserve the right. I just find that longer my abstinence, the less the temptation to partake. I don't begrudge anybody else their drink, and would gladly join your party: just, make mine a chai!

The full-page article I refer to really was a lifestyle advertisement. I think that it was irresponsible.