Tobacco's the biggest cause of cancers in India

Tobacco is addictive, causes cancer and is killing nearly 1.2 lakh young Indians. Two major studies were released in the past week. A study in the Lancet, and the World Tobacco Atlas both found that tobacco use is the single biggest cause of cancers in India, resulting in 40 per cent of cancer deaths in Indian men.

Eighty per cent of all oral cancers are tobacco-related, according to the World Tobacco Atlas, released by world lung foundation. The Lancet study highlighted six lakh deaths due to cancer, in 2010.

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http://ibnlive.in.com/news/tobaccos-the-biggest-cause-of-cancers-in-india/245450-17.html

MP becomes 1st state to ban Gutka products containing tobacco

With increasing number of mouth cancer cases in the country, Madhya Pradesh has become the first state to ban all Gutka products which contain tobacco or nicotine under a new law governing food safety standards.

The Madhya Pradesh food secretary has issued instructions to all District Collectors and Food Safety officials to ensure that the sale and manufacture of all Ghutka products in their areas is not allowed and all such material containing tobacco and nicotine be confiscated.

The ban came into effect from April 1.

The state food secretary has also called for initiating action under the rules against all those indulging in sale and manufacture of Gutka products containing Tobacco and Nicotine.

Madhya Pradesh is the first state to ban Gutka under the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition & Restrictions on sales) Regulation 2011 notified by the Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

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http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/MP-becomes-1st-state-to-ban-Gutka-products-containing-tobacco/Article1-834532.aspx

Tobacco major cause of cancer deaths: Study

Health experts in Kerala are hoping that a nationwide cancer mortality study which underscores the massive health burden of tobacco will galvanise the state and central governments into action and prevent hundreds of thousands of avoidable deaths every year. 

Tobacco use is estimated to have caused nearly 120,000 deaths across India in 2010, according to research carried out by the Toronto-based Centre for Global Health Research (CGHR) in partnership with Mumbai's Tata Memorial Hospital.

Nearly 600,000 Indians die of cancer every year - over seven in 10 deaths (71 percent) takes place in the 30-69 age group, the most productive period of a person's life, says the report published in the latest issue of the Lancet medical journal.
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http://www.dailypioneer.com/home/online-channel/health-a-fitness/54769-tobacco-major-cause-of-cancer-deaths-study.html

More than 50% cancers preventable

More than half of all cancer is preventable and society possesses the requisite knowledge to act on this information, says a new study.

Investigators from the Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, have outlined obstacles that stand in the way of making a huge dent in the cancer burden in the US and around the world.

"We actually have an enormous amount of data about the causes and preventability of cancer," said epidemiologist Graham A Colditz, at the Washington School of Medicine, the journal Science Translational Medicine reported.

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http://www.dnaindia.com/health/report_more-than-50pct-cancers-preventable_1670643

Gory pics on tobacco packs from Dec 1

 NEW DELHI: Finally, gory pictorial warnings like that of rotting mouths, hanging gums and infected lungs, will appear on cigarette, bidi, cigar and smokeless or chewing tobacco packets from December 1.

The Union health ministry issued the notification on Saturday after years of buckling to resistance from the all-powerful tobacco lobby. The latest notification contains a set of four pictures each of lung and oral cancer. 
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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Gory-pics-on-tobacco-packs-from-Dec-1/articleshow/8631187.cms

275m hooked to killer tobacco, survey reveals

NEW DELHI: Around 275 million people in India -- at 15 years and above use tobacco -- which is the leading preventable cause of death and disease in the world.

An average Indian has been found to start using tobacco at 17.8 years. Not many could quit this dangerous habit. The quit ratio for smoking is 13% while that of smokeless tobacco users is 5%.

Shockingly, one in every four female tobacco users are initiated into it before reaching their 15th birthday.

Two in every five daily tobacco users - aged 20-34 -- took to it day in and day out before they had turned 18.

According to the nation's maiden Adult Tobacco Survey (ATS), the findings of which were released by the Union health ministry on Tuesday, India is the second largest consumer of tobacco products and third largest producer of tobacco in the world. 
Read more...http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/275m-hooked-to-killer-tobacco-survey-reveals/articleshow/6776085.cms

Survey finds tobacco sold with 100m of schools in 5 states

NEW DELHI: Tobacco is openly available outside schools even though a ban exists on its sale within 100 yards of a school premise.

A study in five states - Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan - has found that more than 48% of educational institutions had tobacco products being sold within 100 yards.

According to the ministry, nearly 37% children in India start smoking before they reach 10 years, and each day about 5, 500 children begin tobacco use.
Read more....http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Survey-finds-tobacco-sold-with-100m-of-schools-in-5-states/articleshow/10734145.cms

Engineer develops new way to fight wife's cancer

 (CBS News) 
In the battle against cancer, there is a promising new treatment -- a high-tech therapy that targets tumors and with fewer painful side effects than chemotherapy. CBS News correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook examines how this treatment was developed.
Mark Davis, a chemical engineer at the California Institute of Technology, was a complete stranger to the world of medicine. His expertise was in the oil industry.
Then in 1995, his wife Mary was diagnosed with breast cancer.
"There were many times during the therapies where I just really wanted to give up," said Mary. "I thought the treatment was going to kill me rather than the disease itself.".
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http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57322674/engineer-develops-new-way-to-fight-wifes-cancer/

Anti-smoking backers score in ‘tobacco war’

AFTER a string of setbacks, anti-smoking advocates scored a victory, albeit a small one, when a Las Pinas regional trial court denied a petition of the Philippine Tobacco Institute to stop the Department of Health and the Food and Drug Administration from enforcing any form of regulation or supervision on tobacco products.

“This is indeed victory for the country! It’s high time public welfare is prioritized over the profit of an industry that ultimately kills its consumers,” Metro Manila Development Authority General Manager Cora Jimenez told the Manila Standard Monday.
The MMDA’s smoke-free campaign in public places along Metro Manila’s major and secondary roads was stopped by a Mandaluyong City RTC after granting the petition of two security guards nabbed by MMDA enforcers for smoking in a public place last September.
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http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/insideMetro.htm?f=2011/november/8/metro1.isx&d=2011/november/8

Clearing the air an arduous task

BEIJING - Many restaurants are seriously polluted by tobacco smoke despite a national smoking ban, according to the results of an investigation by a Beijing-based non-governmental organization (NGO) released on Sunday.
"With no punishment for smokers in public places, many dining places are experiencing serious pollution," said Feng Yongfeng, a senior researcher with the NGO. According to the organization, known as Green Beagle, the concentration of PM2.5 in smoke-free restaurants in the capital, which indicates the density of the tiny airborne pollutants that travel deep into the lungs and damage the respiratory systems, is as high as 61.0 micrograms a cubic meter (ug/m3).
However, the figure for dining places open to smokers soars to 114 ug/m3, while the figure for restaurants with separate smoking sections is 103 ug/m3.
"The figures indicate the smoke-free restaurants are dangerous for sensitive groups and the ones allowing smoking are very unhealthy for all citizens," said Li Qiang, a professor with the Tobacco Control Office of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
..... Read more at http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/usa/china/2011-11/07/content_14046703.htm