It is estimated that more than 10,00,000 people die each year due to tobacco use in India
world over 60,00,000 people die annually due to tobacco use
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Bollywood 'youth films' found full of tobacco use
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Half of Bollywood's top-grossing "youth-rated" films released between 2006 and 2008 showed tobacco usage, according to a study that assessed the impact of such scenes. Of 44 films of various ratings studied, 24 had 179 such scenes. These comprised 19 of 38 films rated U or U/A, and five of six rated A. The 38 youth-rated films delivered 1.91 billion "tobacco impressions", calculated after factoring in audience size and the number of tobacco-usage scenes. Bollywood delivered 14 billion tobacco impressions, says the study, published last month in Heart Asia by the BMJ (British Medical Journal) group.
Carried out by Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) and Imperial College of London, the study also covered Hollywood films released in the UK. Compared to Bollywood's 14 billion impressions, Hollywood films in the UK delivered 920 million, it found. Despite the government bringing in a set of rules that require disclaimers and health warning messages whenever tobacco is shown on screens, there is a need to rate films showing tobacco use with an A certification, says Dr Monika Arora, director of health promotion and tobacco control with PHFI.
WHO recommended in 2011 that new films with tobacco imagery should be labelled adult films. India's tobacco act, COTPA, only mandates a strong editorial justification and a warning message for tobacco-usage scenes. The study was funded by Fogarty International Centre, National Institutes of Health, US.
Study rings film-tobacco alarm - Experts suggest curbs on smoking scenes citing impact on youths
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New Delhi, April 23: More than half of Bollywood’s top-grossing films rated U or U/A and permitted for viewing by children and youth contained tobacco imagery over a three-year period, a study has shown. A team of researchers from the Imperial College, London, and the Public Health Foundation of India, New Delhi, has found that 24 out of 44 Bollywood films contained 179 “tobacco occurrences” that the researchers fear could drive youths towards tobacco use.Their results appeared yesterday in the journal Heart Asia. The study examined movies released between 2006 and 2008 and rated U, U/A and A. These included Om Shanti Om, Rang De Basanti, Shootout at Lokhandwala, Ghajini and Bhagam Bhag. It found that tobacco occurrences in Bollywood films were on average lower than those in Hollywood movies — 4.1 versus 6.7.
“But India’s large population and the popularity of cinema here lead to much higher tobacco impressions from Bollywood than Hollywood,” said Monika Arora, the study’s co-author at the Public Health Foundation of India. A tobacco impression is measured using the size of the audience for a film and the number of times it shows tobacco use. The researchers used box-office data and the audience size of each of the films to calculate that Bollywood movies deliver approximately 14 billion tobacco impressions to Indian audiences in contrast to 920 million by Hollywood films in the UK.
“These results highlight the need for Indian authorities to protect young and vulnerable minds from being influenced by tobacco use,” Arora said. Although the government last year brought in a set of rules that requires disclaimers and health warning messages whenever tobacco is shown on screens — whether films or television — public health experts believe there is also a need to rate films showing tobacco as A. Tobacco surveys suggest that about 5,500 young people start consuming it daily in India, among whom many are likely to become long-term users. A survey in 2009 had shown that about 15 per cent of those below 15 use tobacco. The researchers want the government to eliminate the depiction of tobacco imagery in Bollywood films rated U and U/A.
“Reconsidering the Indian film rating system would complement other tobacco control measures,” Gaurang Nazar, lead author of the study, said in a release. The study found that seven among 13 U-rated films, 12 among 25 U/A-rated films, and five out of six A-rated films had tobacco imagery. Tobacco control specialists say there is strong evidence to support concerns that depiction of tobacco use in films can cause teenagers and even younger children to light their first cigarette. Two years ago, a research by Arora and her colleagues had shown that adolescents in India with high exposure to tobacco scenes in Bollywood films were twice as likely to take up the habit as adolescents who had low exposure to such movies.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) had recommended in 2011 that new films with tobacco imagery should be labelled adult films — those that are supposed to carry an A rating.
Arora said the rules laid down under India’s Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act allowed the display of tobacco products in films with an A rating. But the film industry has opposed the rules and because of the resistance, the norms have remained unimplemented.
Smoking/Toboocco free villages, Municipalities & Schools were Awarded
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Today (03/04/2013) at 10.30 am at Indian Institute of Health and Family Welfare, Vebgalrao nagar, Hyderabad. Poonam Malakondaiah , IAS, Commissioner, Health and Family Welfare , Government of Andhra Pradesh in collaboration with Public Health Foundation of India and World Health organization , announced and honoured smoke free villages/Municipalities, and Tobacco free school awards for the year 2012. World Health Organization's Global Adult Tobacco Survey- Andhra Pradesh Fact Sheet also released on this occasion.
M. Jayasudha , MLA Secunderabad has attended this programme as the chief Gust for this program and honoured the awards to the winners.
Winners:
Smoke free village - 1st PRIZE- Pongali paka village- Vizag dist- Prize - 25,000 Rupees
Smoke free Municipality- 2ND Prize Guntur Municipality- 15,000 rupees
Tobacco free School -1st prize - Begumpet ZP High school- Nalgonda District- 15,000 rupees
Tobacco free School- 2nd prize- Ulindakonda ZP High school- Kurnool Dist- 10,000 Rupees.
Special Tobacco control Champion award t0 - Guntur rural SP, Sri. Satyanarayana garu.
Jaysudha , MLA also expressed happiness taking this opportunity to honour the awards to tobacco free villages, Municipalities and schools in the state , and she said why twin cities could not win any of these ? and she made an appeal to all the august gathering that we have to work and strengthen execution of laws meant for this and need to raise the awareness levels here in Twin Cities also because as per WHO GATS the more than 30% and many cancer patients are the tobacco users. Tobacco is becoming a serious menace day by day so many youngsters are becoming prey for this and losing their valuable lives. Poonam Malakondaiah explained various sections under COTP Act 2003 that curtail the use of tobacco and she mentioned that enforcement needs to be strengthened in the state and extended her thanks to the Guntur Police department for their initiatives through enforcement.
Awards for smoke-free villages, schools
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Hyderabad: The AP government in collaboration with Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) and World Health Organization (WHO) has announced awards to the smoke-free villages/ municipalities and tobacco-free school for the year 2012. During, this the WHO’s global adult tobacco survey-Andhra Pradesh fact sheet was released. The first prize with a reward of `25,000 went to Pongali Paka village of Vizag district for ‘smoke-free village’ in AP. The Guntur Municipality took the second prize and was named the ‘smoke-free municipality’ and was granted `15,000. Likewise, the first prize fort ‘tobacco-free school’ went to Begumpet ZP high School with a reward of `15,000. Ulindakonda ZP high school in Kurnool district was awarded the second prize in the same category with a reward of `10,000.
M Jayasudha, Secunderabad MLA, and the chief guest at the function expressed her happiness and wondered why the Twin Cities could not win any of such awards. She pleaded to chief guest at the august gathering to work to strengthen execution of laws meant for this and stressed on the need to raise awareness levels in the City. As per WHO GATS, more than 30 per cent of the people in the City suffering due to using tobacco. Poonam Malakondaiah, commissioner, health and family welfare, said that there is a need to implement the COTP Act 2003 to curtail the use of tobacco. She also thanked the Guntur police for their initiatives.
Smoke-free offices help you kick the butt at home
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Making workplaces smoke free discourages smoking at home, a joint study conducted by Imperial College London and the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) has found. In India, almost two in three, or 64%, of adults who work in smoke-free environments live in a smoke-free home, compared with 42% of those who work where smoking is permitted. The proportion of smoke-free homes was higher in states with effective bans on smoking in workplaces (15.4% in Chandigarh compared with 67.9% in J&K), reports the study in Tobacco Control, a British Medical Journal (BMJ) publication.
“BMJ suggests that in India there is good evidence that smoke-free laws in workplaces are associated with a reduction in second-hand smoke at home,” said lead author John Tayu Lee, from the School of Public Health at Imperial College London.
India has 110 million smokers who are mostly men. Over half, or 52.3%, of people surveyed said they were exposed to second-hand smoke at home, with exposure being higher in rural than urban homes, reports the study that used data from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey in India. The government banned smoking in all public places, including offices, on October 2, 2008.
“Making offices and public places smoke free also changes social behaviour and brings about substantial health benefits for people,” said Dr Monika Arora, director, health promotion & tobacco control, PHFI.
Homes benefit from ban on public puff
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New Delhi, March 25: India’s ban on smoking in public and workplaces seems to be prompting tobacco users to refrain from lighting up even at home, a study that analysed patterns across different states suggests. The study has revealed a strong association between smoke-free workplaces and smoke-free homes, showing that states where the ban has been rigorously implemented tend to have fewer homes with second-hand smoke.
States with high levels of second-hand smoke at workplaces also had high levels of second-hand smoke in homes, and the states with low levels at work also had low levels at home. (See chart)
10 Visakhapatnam villages to be declared tobacco free
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VISAKHAPATNAM: Thanks to the determination of their denizens to not light up or chew tobacco, nearly 10 villages in Visakhapatnam district are all set to be declared tobacco and smoke-free by the Union ministry of health on May 31, which is celebrated as the 'World No Tobacco Day'. These tobacco-free villages, located in both, the plains and Agency areas, include Degalapalem, Balabadram, Bheemavaram, Gondhipakalu, Chinarajupakalu, Boyapadu, Bangarammapeta, Damsarai, Tunivalasa and Ramakrishnapuram. All the villages are located in the G K Veedhi, Chintapalli, Ananthagiri, Padmanabham and Yelamanchili mandals.
The ministry of health as well as non-governmental organisations like Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) and Nature have been carrying out sensitisation programmes in these villages and the tobacco-free status will be granted to them based on the research reports of these NGOs. Kishor Mogulluru, a doctor and state consultant of STEPS (Strengthening of tobacco control efforts through innovate partnerships and strategies), PHFI, said, "On World No Tobacco Day on May 31, the 10 villages will be formally declared tobacco-free. We have been assessing these villages for the last six months under a research project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation."
Fifty villages to go tobacco-free by May 31
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After Pongalipaka in Madugula mandal in Visakhapatnam hit the headlines for becoming Andhra Pradesh’s first tobacco-free village on May 31, 2012, efforts are under way to make 50 villages spread over six districts in the State tobacco-free by this year’s World No Tobacco Day.
“We are leaving no stone unturned to score a half century by making good number of villages – a majority of them in Visakhapatnam to join the club of tobacco-free villages by May 31 this year,” said Kishore Mogulluru, State consultant, Strengthening of Tobacco Control Efforts Through Innovative Partnerships and Strategies (STEPS). He told The Hindu that bottom-up and top-down approach was being followed so that the villagers convince the vendors selling tobacco to shut down their shops, users to give up the addiction and tobacco growers motivated to shift to alternative crops like green gram and tomato. They also follow up multi-pronged advocacy campaign by actively involving Self-Help Groups.
Among 20 villages targeted to be declared tobacco-free are Gundipakalu in Chintapalli, Tunivalasa in Padmanabham, Degalapalem in GK Veedhi and Gutuluputu in Paderu mandals of the district. The programme is being implemented in Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, Prakasam, Kurnool, Mahabubnagar and Karimnagar districts by involving 45 SHGs with a membership of 340 with the help of partner-NGOs.
Dr. Mogulluru and Raghavendra Madhu, research associate of Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), were part of the team which attended a training programme conducted for the SHGs by the partner-NGO for Visakhapatnam – Nature – here. PHFI is implementing the project, which was launched in 2009 with a grant of $5 million by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Apart from AP, it is implemented in parts of Gujarat as a pilot project. Mr. Madhu said they have been taking feedback on the implementation of the project from time-to-time to take corrective steps to achieve the objectives.