‘Make every day No Smoking Day’

A non-government organization said yesterday smokers should make everyday "No-Smoking Day" in the face of a growing mortality rate worldwide that is attributed to smoking.

The Tobacco-Free Philippines Foundation said the World No-Tobacco campaign, far from being a spur-of-the-moment initiative, was borne out of the need to draw worldwide attention to the negative effects of tobacco on public health.

But as the country joined the observance of World No-Tobacco Day on May 31, the foundation raised concerns about the government’s ambivalence regarding its policy toward the tobacco sector.

The foundation, which is fighting for tobacco controls, said the government must take responsibility and state categorically its position on the growing menace of tobacco use and clarify its seeming inconsistent stand on cigarette smoking.

The group cited the Department of Health’s campaign against cigarette smoking and the Department of Trade and Industry’s move to allow the entry of a multinational cigarette company in the country.

The trade department announced last March that Philip Morris would build a $300-million production plant here to increase production capacity of its local partner from 20 billion to 30 billion sticks a year.

This year’s theme of the campaign is "Second-Hand Smoke: Let’s Clear the Air."

Medical studies show that second-hand smoke is also a threat to public health as experts–relying on two decades of evidence – found that there is no safe level of exposure to second-hand smoke.

The World Health Organization (WHO), which initiated the worldwide campaign against cigarette smoking, has said that second-hand smoke is associated with a range of life-threatening disorders, including lung cancer and heart disease.

"For children, the situation is particularly disturbing, as involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke has been identified as a cause of respiratory disease, middle ear disease, asthma attacks, and sudden infant death syndrome," the WHO said.

WHO data showed that four million people succumb to smoking-related diseases every year worldwide and that within 20 years, tobacco will become the leading cause of death and disability, killing 10 million people every year, more than the combined deaths from HIV, TB, childbirth, car accidents, suicide and homicide. Seventy percent of those deaths will occur in developing countries like the Philippines.

More than five million children living today will die prematurely because of a decision they will now make as adolescents – smoke cigarettes. About 3,000 kids each day get hooked on tobacco –that’s over one million every year. One-third of them will die from smoking, WHO data stated.

Smoking, it said, increases the risk of pneumonia, influenza, bronchitis and emphysema. Pregnant women who smoke put their baby at risk of miscarriage, still-birth, respiratory problems, low birth weight, premature delivery and infant death.

Smoking causes cancer of the lungs, larynx, mouth, esophagus and bladder and is a contributing cause of pancreatic, kidney and cervical cancers. Most cases of lung cancer are due to smoking.