This World No Tobacco Day 2010 Let Us Protect Women from Tobacco Use and Tobacco Marketing

31st May 2010: Tobacco is the most common preventable cause of death in the world today. While tobacco use continues to predominate as a critical health concern globally, the fact that women comprise a sizeable 20 per cent of the world’s 1 billion smokers is a cause for growing/alarming concern.

Tobacco and Women

Women are a major target of opportunity for the tobacco industry, which needs to recruit new users to replace the nearly half of current users who will die prematurely from tobacco-related diseases. The Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) 2009 found that 8.3 % girls (between 13-15 years) reported consuming some form of tobacco. Recognising the importance of reducing tobacco use amongst women and acting upon that recognition would save many lives.

The adverse health effects of tobacco on men and women exhibit sex-specific differences and women have specific health issues due to its use and exposure to second-hand smoke (SHS). The adverse effects on reproductive health and on the foetus and the newborn are issues of grave concern for women.

Smoking and exposure to second hand smoke during pregnancy increases the risk of health and behavioural problems including: abnormal blood pressure in infants and children, cleft palates and lips, childhood leukaemia, infantile colic, childhood wheezing, respiratory disorders in childhood, eye problems during childhood, mental retardation, attention deficit disorder, behavioural problems and other learning and developmental problems.

Tobacco burns at both ends. At one end are people who consume tobacco either in the form of cigarettes or in the smokeless form and at the other end are those employed by the tobacco industry including women and children. The industry engages a large number of women in tobacco farming and manufacturing and thus exposes them to a multitude of adverse health effects. Women working as tobacco workers suffer from numerous health hazards and various kinds of exploitation from the employers. Tobacco workers are caught in a vicious cycle of poverty, exploitation and helplessness. Low wages, poor returns, lack of alternatives and exploitation at the hands of middlemen keep them in perpetual poverty and debt. Bidi rollers handle tobacco flakes and inhale tobacco dust as well as volatile components of tobacco which put them at a high risk of cancer, chronic lung diseases, tuberculosis, asthma, eye problems, pains in neck and back, gynaecological problems.

A vast majority of women in India consume various forms of smokeless tobacco like gutkha, paan masala with tobacco etc. with prevalence rates varies between 1 % to as high as 60 % in some of the NE states. Since a majority of the country’s women tobacco users are illiterate, the new pictorial health warning would have gone a long way in educating women about the dangers associated with tobacco consumption, especially smokeless tobacco. Pictorial health warnings are critical for prevention of the growing use of tobacco by women, by raising awareness about the health impact of tobacco use through strong picture images.

“The deferment of the new, stronger pictorial health warning from June 1st to December 1st 2010 is a setback to the good efforts by Civil Society and public health advocates who have worked extensively and unstintedly towards bringing the new pack warnings into effect. By delaying the new pack warning, the Government has once again succumbed to tobacco industry pressure, rather than focussing on saving millions of lives”, says Bhavna B. Mukhopadhyay, Executive Director, VHAI.

This 31st May 2010, World No Tobacco Day gives due importance to controlling the tobacco epidemic among women. According to Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO, in the report “Women and Health: today’s evidence, tomorrow’s agenda “protecting and promoting the health of women is crucial to health and development – not only for the citizens of today but also for those of future generations.” Hence, recognizing the importance of reducing tobacco use among women, and acting upon that recognition, would save many lives.

Commencing with World No Tobacco Day 2010, and throughout its efforts on tobacco control in the country, the Government of India in partnership with civil society and public health advocates should continue the good work it has started on tobacco control, not give into the tobacco industry and specially focus on protecting women from the tobacco companies' attempts to lure them into lives of nicotine dependence and tobacco related work.

Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI) in partnership with its strong state and grass root level network will continue playing a proactive role in tobacco control in order to reduce the toll of fatal and crippling health as well as economic problems that have become increasingly prevalent due to the use of tobacco in its various forms and due to the ploys of the tobacco industry.