The District Tobacco Cell, Chief Medical Officer Imphal and Education Social Upliftment Organisation (ESUO) under the aegis of International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, had jointly organised a one day district level seminar on “Implementation of National Tobacco Control Programme” at the Imphal West DC Conference Hall.
It was attended by State Nodal Officer Dr K Komolini as chief guest, Imphal West DC K Radhakumar as president and Imphal West ADC Nivedita as guest of honour.
Dr K Komolini while speaking as the resource person said that according to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey, Manipur stands at 5th position in India while Mizoram tops the list. 40 % of worldwide users of tobacco are from India and China.
Citing records, she stated that in the state, 21.6% of tobacco users are students. In the total population, 31.8% are males and 8.9% females. Reiterating that 80% of cancer-related deaths stemmed from tobacco use and every year, 8 lakh people die from tobacco use related deaths in India which is more than the number of deaths from AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria combined. She related that tobacco use can lead to stroke, heart attack, lung diseases, blindness among various others and among females, can lead to irregular menstrual cycles, infertility, giving birth to underweight infants etc.
She also dispensed the myth that oral consumption of tobacco is less dangerous than smoking as the end results are the same, whether it was smoking or orally consumed. She also asserted that 90% of oral cancer cases arose from tobacco use.