Kerala - Kochi   

Fighting a silent killer

Staff Reporter

It is said that one-fourth of the India's population uses tobacco regularly

KOCHI: Tobacco- whether it is smoked or chewed, has come to be a silent killer across the world. With major anti-tobacco awareness campaigns on in the developed world, tobacco majors (and `minors' too) are focussing on the developed world.

Diseases

Home to a huge population of the world's youth, India is especially vulnerable. It is said that one-fourth of the country's population uses tobacco regularly. While the Government gets revenue of approximately Rs.5,000 crores from tobacco sales, it spends an estimated Rs.13,500 crores on tackling tobacco-related diseases

Aimed at weaning away children from getting addicted to tobacco, Mary Matha Higher Secondary School, Thrikkakkara, arranged many programmes in connection with the observance of World Anti-Tobacco Day (May 31). The events were organised at the fag end of the awareness programmes arranged in this connection, on June 22. These included competitions in essay-writing, elocution, quiz, poster-making and tableaux. The events were held house-wise, with the Nehru House winning the maximum points.

The students came up with colourful and thought-provoking posters.

Says Sr. Cristina, Principal of the school, "Even from birth, man craves for peace, happiness and beauty. In this pursuit, he sometimes veers away from the right path and tries out artificial means of stimulating his mind and body. Addiction to tobacco and liquor is one such."

She administered the anti-tobacco oath to students.

Education is much more than learning about textual knowledge. Obsession with textbooks creates bookworms, sans creativity and imagination.

The anti-tobacco campaigns were aimed at stirring up students' minds, to bring out the creative talent in them, observed Sr. Cristina.

Elocution competition

Speaking on the occasion, Sr. Anila, one of the teachers, spoke of addictions turning youth into slaves.

Sheetal S. Nair, first-prize winner in the elocution competition, asked a question to members of the audience - will you take a medicine or food carrying the label `deadly poison'?

"Never. It is because life is a precious gift from God. Sadly, tobacco has come to be the most generally-used of all narcotics," she said.

While smoking forces even non-smokers to inhale the smoke (passive smoking), chewing tobacco invariably results in people spitting on public spaces, even walls of Government buildings, turning them into eyesores.

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