Mass media campaigns needed to combat smoking addiction
Mass media campaigns needed to combat smoking addiction
JAKARTA (Antara): A young man fishes out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and, as a gesture of friendship, offers the "coffin nails" to everyone around him.
This is a very common scene. Cigarette producers often offer free cigarettes to high schools and universities, fully aware of the consequences.
The chances are that if some people in the crowd manage to say no, they still won't be able to avoid the chocking smoke that the smokers puff around the place.
Smokers are subject to tobacco's health hazards, usually the dreaded cancer.
Data released by the Indonesian Directorate General for Supervision of Food and Drugs shows that 41.5 percent of smokers started the habit between the ages of 15-22, 31 percent between 10-17 and 11 percent at the age of 10 when they were still fifth or sixth graders in elementary school.
Aggressive advertisements play the greatest role in encouraging people to start smoking. They often give misleading information such as smoking can "boost your self confidence" or "freshen your breath", while the truth is that with some 400 types of toxins, tobacco can stop you breathing altogether.
A 1996 World Health Organization (WHO) survey found the number of smokers worldwide to be over 1.1 billion and estimated that between 1996 and 2000, 62 million people would die from tobacco- related diseases.
WHO estimated that half of the deaths would occur when the victims were at their most productive, between the ages of 35 and 69. While the World Bank has reckoned that tobacco consumption stands at 1.9 kilograms per person a year in the 1990-2000 period.
Other studies in the U.S. have found that tobacco has killed more people than AIDS, cocaine, fires, murders and traffic accidents put together.
Why are cigarette so deadly? A cigarette is basically a chemical cache. When it burns it releases about 400 chemicals, among them nicotine and carbon monoxide, according to Dr Tjandra Yoga Aditama.
The smoker inhales all the poisonous chemicals and shares them with the people around him or her. Few non-smokers are aware that passively inhaling the smoke is also dangerous to their health.
The most common diseases caused by tobacco are well-known. Dr. Tjandra says that various studies conducted over the past 40 years in Britain show that 50 percent of people who started smoking when they were young have died from tobacco-related diseases. Meanwhile, passive exposure to smoke increases the possibility of cancer by up to 30 percent.
All studies share the same finding: Smoking increases the possibility of cancer.
The urgent question is: How can smoking be stopped?
The government has introduced various policies such as banning smoking in certain places, like schools. But little has been achieved as is obvious from the rising number of youths who smoke.
Children of a parent who smokes are more likely to become smokers also. It is common to see a father or mother puffing on a cigarette while they are playing with their children. Many do not seem to aware that the smoke is highly dangerous to children under five years old.
To counter the aggressive cigarette advertising, there should be steady campaigns through the mass media on the danger of smoking.
One way to persuade youth and children not to start smoking could be to raise tobacco prices.
The government could look into introducing anti-smoking legislation like in Singapore and Hong Kong, where smoking in restricted areas is punishable by fines.
Other possibilities are setting a legal minimum age for smokers, banning the sale and promotion of cigarettes at schools and places of work, as well as tightening policies on cigarette adverts.
Without concrete action, tobacco will continue to send more people to an early grave.