should smoking be banned??????

[raj2rif]

Narrow Outlook

Dear Monica,
The tobacco industry in India does bring food at table for millions of people. It will be nice if you take some time off and visit the Sagar District of Madhya Pradesh. That alone might change your outlook.

While ill effects of smoking are well understood, ill effect of poverty are as bad as that of smoking, may be more for they are more urgent. A child would die much early because of hunger.

Regarding money spent on Tobacco, Vs, same money spent on food. Easy to understand even by a person of semi intellect. We don't require data gathered by some one for that.

There is more food wasted in the world than probably needed by the poor people. If every thing was ideal in the world then we would not be discussing the subject here. The question is how to get to the solution.

I think corruption is more harmful to the society than smoking. How about banning corruption? Can you do it. Can you educate people? The answer is a Big "YES". Is it practical and possible over night? The answer is Big "NO". The question then comes should we try it? I would say, we must. We need to take baby steps and then progress for a more permanent solution.

The question here was of banning smoking in public places. Off course it is already banned. But what is the definition of public place. In strict definition even a home will be a public place unless only one individual is living in it.

There is a need to segregate the smokers. Make them feel, that what they are doing is some thing wrong. Make them pay more for their bad habit. For example, have a environmental tax on their food in restaurants if they smoke. Let them sit in smoking areas and pay more.

It is not the question of rich and poor. Probably poor people smoke more than rich people.

There are a lot of areas that needs to be fixed. One of them cost of medical itslef, that you have raised in your post. But let us concentrate on the thread "should smoking be banned at public places".

We need to find solution to the second problem that would be created by solving first one.

 

[dahiyarules]

Monika!

So what do you want? You want to put a gun on peoples head and ask them to stop smoking or else?

Thats exactly what legislation is. Laws are passed against the wishes of a section of the society.

Educational programs instead of legislations are more implementative any given day. I tell people not to smoke, drink, do drugs or steroids whenever I get the chance. Voluntary enlightenment inititiatves on the part of of the people is the best solution to stiffle smoking.

And by the way, mathematic logic says that expenditure on tobacco for low income earners will definitely be a bigger proportion of their household income compared to the proportion of the household income of upper wage earners.

Were you trying to twist statistics to gain sympathy?

I am amazed how people have such narrow outlook. Sirf upari soch hai. Please read this to broaden ur way of thinking

According to the trends, tobacco use is declining in developed countries and is on a steep rise in developing countries. Moreover, in a national household expenditure survey done in India it was found that proportion of total household expenditure spent on tobacco products was highest among poorest households be it urban or rural. The money spent on tobacco if was spent on other necessities of life would have saved half of the children dying today because of malnutrition and it would have helped poor have a little better quality of life. For you sons and daughters of rich people, it doesn’t matter if u spend 2 percent of your income on tobacco products. But a poor man renders his 2 year old kid hungry and his wife without food only to satiate his need for a bidi (which also kills his kid in long run). And when that bidi smoker goes to hospital to get his tobacco related cancer treated, you rich people dont go to their aid. most of these dont even bother about the poor. health care costs arising out of the tobacco related diseases further worsens the situation by throwing them in a vicious cycle of poverty and ill health.

For the sake of that kid and that woman and that bidi smoker ( who cant see his family), it is extremely important for government to interfere to some extent. When I said Tax should be increased, I meant it because these poor smokers are the ones who are the most responsive to only and only price change. And the money from tax should be earmarked for medical facilities and health promoting activities which is the need of today.

No matter how hard you try to teach a rikshawala, do you think he will pay heed to anyone’s advice when today, even educated people don’t bother to listen to anyone’s advice and continue to smoke???

I agree that India gets huge economic gains from tobacco trade. However, burden that tobacco use imposes on people and government offsets the small gains. I am so glad that indian Government has started to take this matter seriously and hence the cigarettes and tobacco products act in 2003. there still are some gaps in its implementation which needs to be looked into.

 

[monikadahiya]

Monika!

So what do you want? You want to put a gun on peoples head and ask them to stop smoking or else?

Thats exactly what legislation is. Laws are passed against the wishes of a section of the society.

Educational programs instead of legislations are more implementative any given day. I tell people not to smoke, drink, do drugs or steroids whenever I get the chance. Voluntary enlightenment inititiatves on the part of of the people is the best solution to stiffle smoking.

And by the way, mathematic logic says that expenditure on tobacco for low income earners will definitely be a bigger proportion of their household income compared to the proportion of the household income of upper wage earners.

Were you trying to twist statistics to gain sympathy?

Sumit,

Why are you taking it in a negative stride?? i never meant root out tobacco from the world....did I ever say that?? i just said that role of government in such cases is vital and cannot be ruled out. If there were no bans the entire world would have been consuming marijuana and driving while drunk. Tumhare hisaab se bhai sab log chalne lage toh aaj sabke ghar mein 4-4 AK 47 hongi aur har roz har parking lot mein char paanch murders honge. Agar government na ho toh there would have been a jungle rule and koi aage nahi badhega. Its only government (a governing body..nothing more!) that can impose some rules and regulations that must be followed. Ban on tobacco use in public places, ban on their advertisement etc are nothing but government trying to bring situation under control and i respect that.

Why would I need anyone's sympathy here. Please get that out of ur head straightaway. That's exactly what i wanted to say that the greater proportion of the salary of a poor goes into tobacco so no money left for families' pivotal needs. Its simple. A rich guy spending Rs 40-50 per day on tobacco wont make any difference to him. magar ek garib usse bhi kam pure din mein kamaata hai...

For your very kind information sumit, health education ALONE has proven to be futile. You can go ahead and beat around your drums about only education, but that is not going to lead anyone anywhere. kisi ko yeh bolne se " tobacco use is injurious to health" us insaan ko koi farak nahi padta. until someone contemplates himself, it wont make any difference to him chaahe usko kitni bhi information de do. Health promotion which is a more holistic approach is a must. That also includes regulation. India mein jaha itni major population poverty line ke neeche hai, jahan literacy/education is a luxury, udhar education ki baat kar ke you are trying to fool yourself.

 

[YJShambhu01]

I'm not sure if we can ban smoking in all public places.

Gosh! But I can't think of a single public place where I'll be happy to see someone smoking, perhaps in the middle of a desert or sea.

I'm a Non-Smoker and feel good abt it. Though I tried real hard to pick-up smoking during my college days (thought It will look stylish) but I found it absolutely tasteless .

Like Monika Dahiya said - smoking habit is picked up at an early age when one is not capable enough to make a right decision.

Test to check if Smoking is Good or bad?
If you find someone smoking in a pulic place such as hospital or in front of kids just give them a hard look at the cigerette and at their eyes. Their reaction will tell you the result. I bet over 80% will move away or throw their cigarette (especially, if its not the last one).