People should be told about ill-effects of tobacco: Uttarakhand Governor K K Paul

Picture for representational purpose (Express Archive Image)

Uttarakhand Governor K K Paul has said that educating people, especially the youth, about the ill-effects of tobacco consumption should be the goal of campaigns to make the state tobacco-free. The message, “tobacco kills”, should be taken to the remotest parts of the state through awareness campaigns, he said yesterday after releasing the World Lung Foundation’s ‘Uttarakhand Youth Tobacco Survey-2016’ at the Raj Bhawan in Dehradun.

The campaigns should tell people, especially the youth, that “tobacco is the main cause of killer diseases such as cancer”, Paul said. Though the survey says the ‘Uttarakhand Tobacco Free Initiative’, a campaign by the foundation and the Uttarakhand government, has led to positive results with the number of tobacco consumers coming down in the state, a lot still needs to be done, he said.

He called for the strict implementation of anti-tobacco laws with an eye on schools and colleges.