Say no to smoking and alcohol

A near unanimous majority of Indians - 99 percent - favour a prohibition of smoking in public places, including workplaces, restaurants and  bars, and demand stringent enforcement of rules to check smoking in offices, a survey has found.  According to the survey released by Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI) Tuesday, majority of people agree that "all workers in India should be protected from exposure to second-hand smoke in workplaces".  A randomly selected sample of 1,026 respondents in four metros of the country - Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata - were interviewed in December last year.  "Majority of Indians support prohibition of smoking inside public places, including workplaces, restaurants and bars and an overwhelming 99 percent of Indians strongly favour enforcement of smoke-free rules in work places in order to provide comprehensive protection from second-hand exposure to tobacco smoke," the survey found.  Further, as many as 92 percent of resp...

A Dutch company has come up with a non-nicotine based soft drink which gives off a sensation akin to smoking cigarettes. The drink, 'Liquid Smoking,' comes in a 275ml can shaped like a cigarette packet and will cost ?1.50 when introduced in Britain shortly. It is an energy drink laced with South African herbs, which gives off "a slight energising effect, followed by a euphoric sense of calming and relaxation." It has been on sale in the Netherlands for nearly a year now, and the Dutch company, United Drinks and Beauty Corporation, plans to launch it in Britain close to Christmas, The Telegraph has reported. There is no lower age limit to buy it, but the manufacturer believes it should not be drunk by anyone under 15. Company chief executive Martin Hartman told The Telegraph: "The product we have developed has got similar properties to nicotine, so we are trying to help people out who are affected by the ban on nicotine." People might use this instead of a ci...

Women who smoke are more likely than their ex-smoking and non-smoking peers to undergo surgery for an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) or to experience a ruptured aneurysm. An AAA occurs when the wall of the aorta, the body's largest artery that carries blood from the heart , is stretched or weakened as it passes through the abdomen. Blood pumping through the artery can cause the weakened wall to balloon out and possibly rupture. A ruptured AAA is an extremely dangerous event causing a massive amount of internal bleeding that is fatal without immediate surgery to repair the aorta. To assess the potential risk factors for abdominal aortic aneurysm events (repairs and ruptures) in women, researchers from America studied 1,61,808 postmenopausal women aged between 50 and 80 years. During the 8 years of follow-up, the researchers took lifestyle factors such as dietary habits and smoking status of the participants into consideration. Overall, 184 women experienced an AAA rupture or repai...

After a ban on smoking in public places, Union health minister Anbumani Ramadoss is now eyeing the bottle. A National policy on alcohol control will soon be implemented in the country, Ramadoss said. He said consultation with experts have begun but refused to elaborate. "On weekends in cities like Bangalore and Chennai even women are going on smoking and drinking binge. It's a dangerous trend. We'll have to intervene and regulate the system," he said.  Ramadoss hoped the WHO would soon designate October 2 as the global prohibition day. "Alcohol consumption poses a grave threat to India, the nation with 600 million people less than 30 years of age," he said.  "The Constitution mandates all states to exercise prohibition but except J&K and Gujarat none of the states follow it. Prohibition is a state subject, I would urge all state governments to enforce to total prohibition."

Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss has said that a blanket ban on smoking in public places would be strictly enforced from October 2 on eve of Mahatma Gandhi's birthday. India is among the few countries to ban tobacco-related advertisements but apart from the ban in media, the ban on smoking in public places or sale to minors is blatantly flouted. "The Health Ministry can implement the law, the rule, the act wholeheartedly. From October 2, India is going to go smoke free in all public places," said Ramadoss.  Urging the people to self-impose the ban, the Health Minister said the need for restrain smoking had to come from within the individuals. "Please self-impose this act. That is my main appeal. Every public in India has to self-impose," said Ramadoss. India is the third largest tobacco producer and consumer in the world after China and United States of America. India, exports one fourth of its total annual tobacco output, which is nearly 545 million kilo...

Forty percent of India's health problems are linked to smoking, Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss says, defending the stringent measures to ban smoking  in  public places from Oct 2.  "According to a WHO survey, the (size of the) tobacco industry is Rs 35,000 crore (Rs 350 billion/$8 billion). Government as well as individual expenditure on preventing and treating tobacco-related health ailments as well as loss of production due to these diseases is Rs.36,000 crore (Rs.360 billion)," Ramadoss said in an interview.  He also pointed out that of the five million people the world over who have health problems because of  tobacco use , one million are Indians.  Ramadoss denied suggestions that he was playing the moral policeman due to the health ministry's banning smoking in public places from Oct 2.  "I am not trying to play a moral policeman or guardian. I am just doing my job. As health minister it is my responsibility to create awareness in the general population ...