It is the only product in the world which kills when used as directed. Still, 1.1 billion people consume tobacco and 4 million of them die of it every year. Over 2,200 people die of a tobacco-related disease every day in India alone that's 8 lakh people every year. Still, the tobacco industry pleads not guilty and brazenly continues to market its killer weed with slick advertising and a defunct economic argument.It works overtime disseminating information about the economic benefits this labour-intensive crop brings in. But all their arguments fall flat under scrutiny. True, tobacco contributes Rs 6,934 crore in State revenue and Rs 1,059 crore in export earnings. But these figures are offset by the quantum of personal loss the habit brings on, quite apart from losses due to death or disability.Dr N. K. Ganguly, Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research, announced on Tuesday that every person afflicted by a tobacco-related cancer costs the nation Rs 3.5 lakh. The figure is for cancer alone.To it may be added the cost of premature death one in two of all long-term smokers dies 20 to 25 years prematurely and the cost of several diseases which stop short of killing, but hamper productivity and strain economic resources.There are 25 tobacco-related diseases known today, says the World Health Organisation (WHO), of which cancers (of the lung, larynx, oral cavity, pharynx, oesophagus, pancreas, bladder and cervix, besides leukaemia) are just one kind. Nicotine increases blood pressure, exacerbates asthma, causes impotence and infertility and increases serum carbon monoxide, which can lead to shortness of breath. Long-term use can lead to heart attack, stroke and cancer. The World Bank estimates 500 million people alive today will eventually be killed by tobacco.WHO statistics show that two-thirds of smokers catch the habit young. By the time they understand the health risks, they have an addiction stronger than the heroin habit. Chronic exposure to nicotine causes structural damage to thebrain, increasing the number of nicotine receptors. This is why smokers find it difficult to quit. The chances of succeeding in quitting without help is no better than one in a hundred. Attempts are usually cyclic and most smokers who quit are at risk of relapse.Knowing this, cigarette companies do their best to hook 'em young, using advertising to project images of rebellion, success, glamour and adventure. In India, $48.8 million are spent on advertising, with the press ($10 million) and television ($9.8 million) getting the major chunk of advertising. Surrogate advertising is rampant: all the 11 players of the Indian cricket team who are on TV 125 days a year and are watched by 150 million Indians sport a cigarette logo. Increasingly, the tobacco industry is promoting the slogan `Courage of Choice', using yin and yang symbolism.The Ministry of Health has drafted a Bill on tobacco control but it awaits Cabinet approval. ``It's going slow because we are trying to plug all the possible loopholesbefore the Bill becomes law," says a Ministry of Health official. "We have learned from experience that the tobacco industry has a quicksilver ability to adapt to and sidestep restrictions.''As it sidestepped the ban on advertising on Doordarshan by going for satellite channels and using brand-stretching (Wills sporting apparel) and sponsoring popular sporting events (Wills World Cup). The industry won that round.Smoking is banned in hospitals, dispensaries and other healthcare establishments, educational institutions, conference rooms, domestic flights, air-conditioned coaches in trains, suburban trains and State-operated air-conditioned buses. Three states Delhi, Kerala and Goa have a legislation in place which restricts smoking in public areas (including beaches in Goa), selling tobacco to minors and advertising bans, but the laws are seldom enforced. This is where the judiciary could make a difference, as it did in the US, where Big Tobacco lost millions in compensation to three states who sued.But the courtroom war is still in its infancy in India, with former four-time member of Parliament (South Mumbai) Murli Deora filing the first public interest litigation against the tobacco industry.Realising the enormity of the problem, the WHO has used its constitutional mandate and initiated the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to support and accelerate the work of member states to strengthen their tobacco-control programmes. An international conference focusing on tobacco law will be held from January 7-9 in New Delhi and will be addressed by WHO Director-General Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland.India an emerging marketThe market is 1 billion and growing and India is the second-biggest emerging market. Only 19 per cent of tobacco users smoke cigarettes, but cigarette smoking is expected to touch 33 per cent by 2020. Bidis account for 54 per cent of tobacco use, while chewable tobacco makes up for the rest of the 27 per cent. Cigarettes, however, seem to be more popular among men, whoaccount for 80 per cent of cigarettes smokers. Price is a key influencing factor and the cigarette lobby encourages upward mobility, upgrading people from chewing tobacco to bidis to cigarettes. Premium cigarette brands cost about 7 cents per stick, while the more popular brands cost about 4 cents. Bidis, in comparison, cost about 0.5 cent per stick, so it's no wonder that for every cigarette smoked, 8.5 bidis are consumed.The `safe cigarette' scamIn an effort to reduce the tar and nicotine content of cigarettes, the Indian Tobacco Research Institute is working in collaboration with the research and development wings of tobacco companies like ITC, Godfrey Philips and VST. But such research is a complete sham, for the West found out long ago that there is no such thing as a safe cigarette. ``Tobacco companies naturally ensure that smokers stay addicted to nicotine,'' informed Jeffrey Wigand, the Brown & Williamson research and development vice president who went public with tobacco lies. Thenewest Disney film, The Insider, tells his story. ``Cigarettes are highly-engineered nicotine-delivery devices, and even the low tar-low nicotine cigarette are not any safer,'' he revealed at a conference organised by the World Health Organisation in San Francisco, California. ``Research has show that those who smoke low-nicotine cigarettes draw deeper to ensure that they get their nicotine hit.'' Intimidation comes easy to Brown a Williamson, with the company threatening to sue Disney for libel. Last month, scientists linked smoking `Lights' by far more popular among women and teenagers because they are thought safer with a rare kind of cancer.
