Resources Archives

PRESS RELEASE

India’s women and children in acute danger
“India is in the midst of a horrifying tobacco epidemic,” reports Mira Aghi, PhD, of Advocacy Forum for Tobacco Control (AFTC). She was a contributor to a study undertaken by Heather Wipfli, PhD, project manager of the Institute for Global Tobacco Control at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The study was carried out to determine the extent of exposure of women and children living with smokers to secondhand smoke (SHS) in diverse climates and cultures. It was a multi-country (31) study, measuring nicotine in the air of homes with and without smokers and in the hair of women and children living in these homes. In India, the data was collected in households around the city of Ahmedabad, with the help of Taleem Research Foundation. Data also included perceptions and attitudes about SHS among members of the households.

Nicotine was found in the air of both smoking and non-smoking households. Compared to the other countries in the study, the air nicotine levels in India were higher than the overall median (50% of the samples from the countries) for non-smoking households. Air nicotine levels in smoking households were at the same levels as half of the samples from the other countries.

Women living in non-smoking and smoking households in India had the highest hair nicotine levels compared to those found in the 30 other countries included in the study. Children in non-smoking households had comparable levels of hair nicotine to children living in smoking households. This shows that children in non-smoking household are being exposed to smoking in places outside their homes.

“The results from this report demonstrate clearly that adults in India must do more to protect children by absolutely banning smoking in the home. By failing to act, we are doubling the risk that our children will eventually die early or suffer from a tobacco-related disease such as heart disease or cancer,” observed Dr. Aghi. “The results highlight the need to improve public awareness of the importance of going outside to smoke to limit the exposure to children living in the home.”

The extraordinary high levels of SHS exposure to women and children and the relative risks associated with that exposure should alert the smokers to the acute harm they are causing. India is already suffering from a devastating epidemic brought about by tobacco, which currently causes the premature deaths of over 900,000 Indians per year. This number is expected to rise to one million deaths per year by 2010. Tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke from bidis, cigarettes, and other tobacco products leads to illnesses that include tuberculosis and cancer.