ABOUT 206 million Indians are using smokeless tobacco. This smokeless tobacco is mostly used in India, Bangladesh and among Thai women. India is the second largest producer of tobacco in the world and is the fourth largest exporter of tobacco. It generates about 20 billion ruppes worth of income per annum for the government at state and central levels, reported the esteemed medical journal The Lancet.
Dr Upendra Bhojani, faculty, Institute of Public Health said, “The deaths due to smoking is enormous. Problems like tuberculosis and other respiratory diseases have become common now,” he told Lancet, adding that tobacco consumption is not an inherited habit but its a kind of addiction and it can be decreased by spreading awareness among the people.
The World Health Organization has focused on the tobacco industry this year and are trying to decrease the rate of tobacco consumption in India. On 31st May, The World No Tobacco Day, a resolution was taken to stop the tobacco consumption and to spread the awareness on its ill affects, reported ibnlive.
Apart from all this, another major issue that's affecting by the consumption of tobacco is the economic problem. The money needed to buy tobacco is pushing many families into poverty and these families are not able to spend money on their essential needs.
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