THE RINGS of smoke flying out of the fag in your hand may put you on a new high, but there’s a great possibility that you might just be allowing yourself to be engulfed by a death trap. The universal truth, that smoking is injurious to health, has mostly proven ineffective in convincing the habitual smokers to quit smoking.

Each year on May 31, which is the World No Tobacco Day, loud campaigns are initiated worldwide urging people to quit smoking but the fact remains that they make little impact. Habitual smokers belong to a stubborn breed.

According to sociologists, smoking is a personal choice and is largely conceived as “slow suicide.” Innumerable researches and statistics have highlighted, again and again, the wisdom in staying away from cigarettes, but to no avail. Consider these: Use of tobacco currently accounts for three million deaths each year worldwide, and nearly one-third of these deaths occur in India alone. The global health care costs resulting from tobacco use exceed US$ 200 billion a year -- more than twice the current health budgets of all developing countries. It is predicted that by 2020s there will be about 10 million tobacco related deaths annually worldwide, and most of them would occur in developing Asian countries.

There was a time, when smoking was considered as a symbol of masculinity; not any more. Reason being that women folk too have joined the ‘tobacco club’ and enjoy ‘puffing’ without displaying any sign of remorse. Few even go to the extent of saying that smoking depicts empowerment. Does it?

The most popular doled out explanation for smoking is that it’s a great stress buster. Not true if we go by the WHO revelation that about half of all regular cigarette smokers will eventually be killed by their habit. If stress is a slow killer, so is smoking.

Passive smokers are no less affected, and often end up paying the price for someone else’s ‘relaxation.’ Though the Supreme Court of India has banned smoking in public places we all are witness to its blatant violation. Sadly, like many other verdicts given by the Apex court, the ban on public smoking has failed due to its weak implementation by law enforcing agencies. In fact, it’s the decree of smokers that still reigns supreme in the country.

If you still want to smoke, there would never be a dearth of justification. Not everyone suffering from stress turns to smoking for beating it. There are several other intelligent ways of beating stress. And those who think it’s a symbol of machismo should stop befooling themselves. A man is respected for his intellect and acts like smoking nowhere fit the bill.

So next time, when you are about to light a cigarette, pause for a second and spare a thought for those who matter to you, and decide yourself, which is more important- they or your momentary flight of fantasy. Life is too precious to be puffed away in the rings of smoke.