Tuesday, 01 June 2021 | PNS | Roorkee
Tobacco use in India has come a long way since it was introduced to the country some centuries ago. Various health issues have risen correspondingly with increase in tobacco use. The government is taking various measures to decrease tobacco use but the scenario resulting from tobacco use remains challenging.
Tobacco cultivation was introduced in India during1605 by the Portuguese and was first grown in Gujarat. After that it reached the Calcutta Botanical Garden in 1787, Pusa in Bihar in 1875 and Guntur in Andhra Pradesh in 1928. As tobacco cultivation and use increased, excise duty was imposed on it around 1944. After World War II, advertising projected cigarette as also a means of slimming and a symbol of status and style.
Uttarakhand officer in-charge of National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP) Dr Archana Ojha informed that according to Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) 26.5 per cent people use tobacco in various forms with 18.1 per cent smoking it and 12.4 per cent consuming it in non-smoking forms. Under the NTCP, training programmes for stakeholders including the police and schools are held at the district and state level. Tobacco Free Education Institute (TFEI) programme is also being conducted to raise awareness among students of all age groups against tobacco consumption.
Pulmonary medicine specialist Dr Puneet Tyagi
said that many of the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients that he sees have been smoking for about two decades. The younger patients exhibit initial symptoms of COPD like wheezing, chronic cough and shortness of breath caused by doing heavy work and climbing stairs. There are various options for those wanting to give up smoking. They can use nicotine chewing gum, nicotine patches, nicotine therapy and sometimes psychiatrist is prescribed. Apart from lungs, smoking can also affect liver, intestines, stomach and also lead to brain stroke among other serious conditions like cancer, he said.
